


Lessons With Ashton

by im_just_a_sucker_for_bromance



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Adult Content, Alternate Universe, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Best Friends, Blow Jobs, Bottom Ashton, Bottom Michael, Boys Kissing, Cybersex, Established Relationship, Falling In Love, First Kiss, First Time, Hand Jobs, Long-Distance Relationship, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Mashton, Minor Michael Clifford/Calum Hood, Out of Character, Sex Education, Shy Michael, Teasing, Top Ashton, Top Michael, Virgin Michael, malum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-09-09 18:47:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8907787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_just_a_sucker_for_bromance/pseuds/im_just_a_sucker_for_bromance
Summary: Michael’s boyfriend, Calum, was coming back after two years at uni and Calum had told him he was looking forward to spend some special time with him. That was when Michael’s best friend, Luke, who thought he was a desperate case, decided Michael needed help and according to him, there was no one better than Ashton for that job. Michael had to learn some exciting things to please his boyfriend and Ashton had to loosen Michael up before his boyfriend’s arrival. That was how Michael found himself in front of the door of a stranger, in order to spice up his sex life, as Luke had put it.





	1. Hopeless Case

Michael pulled his hoodie on his head and slouched further down in his seat while hugging his chest tighter. He was nervous because he had never done that before. But then again, if he had, he would not have been there at that moment. His butt cheeks were freezing from being on that bench on the side of the road for so long, his fingers felt numb and he could see that the tip of his nose had turned pink but still, he had made no move. Why should he move? He did not have to; he did have a choice. He did not have to do what Luke had asked him to; or did he? After all, he was the lamest person on the planet when it concerned those things. Luke was his best friend and Michael knew that he would not make any wrong or rush decisions when it concerned him but he still felt nervous and apprehensive. He did not know the person he was supposed to meet and that thought only sent chills down his spine; Luke knew that guy and he trusted Luke.

Finally getting to his feet, Michael smoothened his clothes and ran his fingers through his blonde hair. He slowly breathed through his nose and breathed out through his mouth at an equally slow speed as he tried to get a hold of himself. He kept telling himself everything would be alright and he had nothing to worry about; he just had to meet that person. How wrong could things possibly go if you meet someone for the first time? Lots of things actually. Sighing, Michael shook his head and pushed those thoughts out of his head. Pretty confidently, he walked towards the building that was across the street and stopped in front of it, once he had crossed the road. As he slowly reached for the door, Michael took a few deep breaths before turning on his heels; suddenly, he found himself at the same point he was a few minutes ago. Things were going crazy in his head; he was going crazy. The blonde boy took another deep breath and again made his way to the building, that time managing to make it upstairs and in front of the door of that Ashton guy’s apartment.

Ashton, Michael sighed at the name. He was a friend of Luke and exactly what kind of friend he was, Michael could tell but at that moment, he did not want to go there. Luke had a very active sex life and he knew Ashton was one of those guys Luke had slept with. He bit on his lower lip and brought a hand up before knocking on the brown wooden door. When no one answered, Michael let of a sigh of relief and turned on his heel, almost bumping into another guy, who was standing right behind him. He was pretty with his slightly wavy hair and cute dimples but that was where it stopped. He was not normally judgemental but judging by the way he looked, he could tell that guy was someone Luke would hang out with; it might be Ashton but he hoped he was wrong. Michael let out a nervous laughed and moved to the side and as he started to walk away, the pretty boy called him.

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah?” Michael said when he turned around.

“Are you looking for someone?”

“Umm…” he let out another nervous laugh and shifted from one foot to the other. “No, not really. I was just… nothing…”

Ashton raised an eyebrow at the blonde, who was staring at the floor, and hummed low in his throat. How could the other say he was not looking for anyone when he had just knocked on his door? Ashton watched him as he again shifted from one foot to the other, ran his hand through his hair and he could tell that the blonde was nervously chewing on the inner side of his cheek. Judging by the shy look on his face and the way he was awkwardly fidgeting with the strap of his bag, Ashton could instantly tell who he was; the guy Luke had told him about. He had actually forgotten that he was supposed to meet him that day and had gone out to meet that other guy, whom he was chatting with on Facebook for the past three weeks. Thankfully, things did not go as he had planned and he returned home earlier otherwise, he would have missed this guy, who had that look on his face that indicated he wished the ground would open up and swallow him, and if that had happened, he would have had to hear Luke’s lectures, complains and even rants.

“You’re Michael, right?” Ashton asked, without moving from his spot.

“Umm… no…” Michael let out a laugh but it only came out as an awkward sound.

“That’s funny cause you look exactly like the one on the photo that Luke sent me.”

Michael frowned, unable to find the right words to say; Luke had sent his picture to that guy. He did not even know Ashton and Luke had sent his photo to him? Luke was definitely going to hear from him.

“Here,” Ashton walked to Michael and opened the message that Luke had sent him on Facebook, along with Michael’s picture.

“Ok, fine. I’m Michael and you must be Ashton.”

“The one and only,” Ashton grinned.

“It was nice to meet you but I should get going.”

Ashton grabbed Michael’s backpack and halted him. “Luke said you would say that and he also said that I shouldn’t let you go. Why don’t you come inside?”

“I don’t even know why Luke told me to come here,” Michael complained but followed Ashton inside anyway.

“I believe you need some help with…”

Michael almost scoffed; so, Luke had told Ashton about his situation? Luke was his best friend and he could not believe he had done that. What else had Luke told Ashton? Whatever else it was he told the other boy, Luke was definitely going to hear a piece of his mind when he got back home. “What exactly did Luke tell you?”

“Huh… do you want me to say it in his own words?”

“Yes, please if you would.”

“Ok, quoting Luke: _‘my best friend’s boyfriend is coming back home after a long time and he needs some help. Can you just give him some tips and pointers to spice up his boring sex life? And when I say boring, I mean Boring with a capital b.’_ end of quote.”

“Luke said that?”

“Yep.”

“Please don’t believe anything he said. I don’t have a boring sex life and I don’t know what else he said but it’s just a big bunch of lies.”

“Well, I guess I don’t have to teach you anything then? But we can still hang out if you want to,” Ashton proposed. “I’ll be right back.”

Michael nodded and watched as Ashton pulled his shirt over his head while walking away. From the split second that he saw Ashton’s back, Michael could already see how well-built he was and he quickly looked away. He looked in the direction that Ashton had disappeared in and then bit his lips as he glanced at the door; it looked like a good opportunity to slip out of there unnoticed. As it was, it was not like Ashton was going to track him down and show up on his doorstep. He should never had gone inside when Ashton had invited him in. He should never had listened to Luke in the first place. What had he been thinking, walking into a stranger’s house just because Luke thought he needed help with his so-called ‘boring’ sex life? What was Luke even talking about? Michael had no sex life and he was perfectly happy with that; he did not need anyone to teach him anything.

The moment he entered his bedroom, Ashton tossed his shirt on the bed and walked to his closet. He grabbed his favourite blue sweater and pulled it on as he let his mind drift to the boy, who was sitting in his living room. Luke had said Michael needed help but Michael was saying that he did not need any and that made him wonder which one of them it was. Other than the fact that Michael was acting awkward with him, he was pretty cute and anyone that attractive must be getting plenty of attention and sex; so, why was Luke saying he needed help? He was confused and there was only one way to sort that out: to talk to Luke. Reaching for his phone, he quickly dialled Luke’s number and waited for him to answer.

“Hey Ashton. What’s up?”

“Michael’s here,” Ashton simply said.

“Wow! Not even a hello? I’m good thanks for asking.”

“I’m good too, thanks for asking,” Ashton laughed.

“Straight to the point, I see. I’ve known you for two years, you call me after so long and you don’t even tell me that you missed me.”

“You out of all people should know that I’m always straight-forward. And I missed you Luke.”

“That’s better,” Luke grinned. “So, did you guys do it yet?”

“About that, Michael said that he does not need help and that you lied because his sex life is not boring.”

Luke let out a loud laugh and it was so high-pitched that Ashton had to move the phone away from his ear. “Not boring? Seriously? And you believed him? Michael is my best friend and I know him better than that. That guy has no sex life. He needs help fast if he wants to impress his boyfriend, who’s coming back.”

“What do you suggest I do?” Ashton bit his lip.

“What you do best. Just loosen him up a bit and teach him some stuffs, sexual stuffs. And I have to warn you, he’s a bit shy.”

“So, he’s stiff?”

“Hey, don’t say that. He’s my best friend.”

“Fine, I won’t call him stiff. I’ll call him uptight,” the older boy laughed.

“Stop it, it’s not funny.”

“Ok, I’ll handle him just fine. When are you coming over so that we can hang out? My bed misses your naked body.”

“Your bed?”

“Yeah and I miss your body under mine.”

“Do something about Michael first then we’ll talk about that.”

“Consider it done.”

When Michael heard a laugh coming from down the hallway, he grabbed his bag and quickly got to his feet. He should get out of there fast and once he would be in the streets, he would just pretend like it was all a dream, a weird dream. He had barely made it to the door when Ashton walked back into the room and he wished he had left earlier, instead of sitting and thinking about the situation that he was in. Just so it did not look like he was running away, he moved closer to the wall and pretended to be looking at the photo frames that were by the door.

“Are you bailing out on me?”

“No… I was just… looking around…”

“Have a seat,” Ashton smiled and patted the couch next to him. “You can look around later.”

“Sure,” after a moment of hesitation, Michael took a seat, not beside Ashton but on an armchair.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, how much would you rate your sex life?”

“I’m not answering that,” Michael looked at his feet, clearly flustered by the sudden question.

“If we’re going to do this, we’ll have to talk about it and you’ll have to be more open.”

“I thought we were not doing this. I told you, Luke’s just messing with you.”

“That’s funny cause I just talked to Luke and he gave me permission to go ahead.”

“Permission?” Michael laughed. “If you need permission from someone, it should be from me, not from Luke.”

“How do you like to do it best?”

“What kind of question is this?”

“You have to trust me on this one.”

“How can I trust a stranger?”

“Good point,” the older boy sighed. “I’m Ashton and you’re Michael. We’re both adults and we can talk about sex.”

“What makes you think I want to talk about sex with you?”

“I thought so.”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Luke told me you’re a virgin.”

“He what?” Michael stared at Ashton, his cheeks were heating up and he knew his entire face was turning red. “Why would he say that?”

“It’s alright. Everybody has been a virgin once in their life. Even I was one once upon a very long time ago.”

“So, you know everything about me?”

“Not everything, just the basics.” Ashton got up and took a seat on the armrest of Michael’s chair. “So, you’ve never done anything with a guy, nothing at all?”

“Umm… not nothing at all… I’ve done things with people.”

“Like what?”

“Kissing. Is that bad?”

“I guess not. Ok, let’s try this,” Ashton said and leant closer. “Kiss me.”

“I have a boyfriend. I don’t want to do anything with anyone else.”

“Listen, this has nothing to do with your boyfriend. This is just you trying to learn something and this is where it stops. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Although he was still unsure about himself, Michael nodded and the moment he gave his confirmation, Ashton again leant closer. Closing his eyes, he inched closer, wiping the distance between them, and pressed his lips to Ashton’s waiting ones. Ashton’s lips felt soft and warm and Michael tried to ignore the fact that those lips did not belong to Calum. Before Ashton had the chance to register anything, Michael had pulled away and he was left to stare at the other boy with a dumbfounded expression.

“That’s it? That was the kiss?”

“Yeah,” Michael replied unsure.

“You’re a hopeless case,” Ashton shook his head before shifting to the other couch again.


	2. Everyone Wants, Except Michael

“What?” Michael frowned at Ashton, who folded his legs under him.

“Your boyfriend, what’s his name?”

“Calum, why?” the frown never left Michael’s features; Ashton’s question had confused him.

“Is this how you kiss Calum?”

Michael’s cheeks were again pinking; what kind of question was that? “No… I mean usually it lasts longer than that.”

“How long have you two been dating already?” Ashton bit the corner of his lower lip as he glanced at Michael.

“Two years. Shortly after we started dating he left for college.”

“Two years and that’s how you kiss him?”

“I told you it’s usually longer than that and you’re not him.”

“Stop comparing us.”

“I’m not, I’m just saying.”

“If you keep doing that, we’ll never be able to learn something and move on to the next thing.”

“Next thing?”

“Yeah, you didn’t come here only to learn about kissing. What did you think?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know why I listened to Luke and showed up here.”

“Because deep down you know you need me. And I’m glad you came. So, do you at least kiss him with tongues and all?”

“This is private.”

“There’s nothing private between you and me. You have to start getting used to that.”

If Michael was thinking showing up in front of Ashton’s door was a bad idea, he was now starting to think it was a mistake. “Can’t you go easy on me?”

“We don’t really have much time to go slow if you really want to impress Calum by the time he comes.”

“I don’t want to impress him. We’re in a very happy relationship.”

“I wonder how you two are still together if all you ever do is kissing. I’d never have lasted that long.”

“Because being with each is what matters to us. Other things are not important.”

“Yes, they are. They are important for a healthy and exciting relationship.”

“Not everyone is like you.”

Ashton let out a laugh. “I’m perfectly happy with the way I am.”

“Gosh, how can you look so relaxed? Why are you so relaxed? I’m feeling really awkward about this whole situation. You look like you’ve done this hundred times before.”

“It’s ok to be nervous. Just close your eyes and take a deep breath,” the older boy instructed and waited for Michael to do what he said but Michael only kept fidgeting with his fingers. “Michael, relax.”

Michael finally closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. “I’m fine.”

“So, are you ready to give it another shot?”

“What? I’m not kissing you again.”

“Come on, practice makes perfect.”

“I don’t want to be perfect. I’m good and Calum likes it that way.”

Ashton let out a frustrated groan. “Calum. Can you see anything or anyone other than him?”

“He’s my boyfriend.”

“Can’t you forget about him for a few minutes and focus?”

“And that’s why I think it’s probably best if I just leave. I think we’re done here. It was nice meeting you but this was a very bad idea. Have a good day.”

“But…”

Ashton did not have the chance to finish his sentence and Michael was already out the door. Out of all the guys that he had ever met in his entire life, he had never met anyone quite like Michael. From that two second kiss that he had with Michael, he could tell if Michael was more experienced, he could definitely do more, so much more, with those lips. That was where his role started; he had to teach him, to show him, that there was more than just pressing your lips to someone else. Luke was his friend and he wanted to help Michael because he was Luke’s best friend but Michael was being so uptight and Ashton could not force him. He could not help someone who was not willing to be helped. Shrugging, Ashton decided to go and get ready for his usual Friday night’s out but as his mind drifted back to Michael, he kept sitting on the couch, without making any move to get up.

**~*~*~*~*~**

“Luke?” Michael again called as he knocked on the door. “I know you’re home. I can hear the TV. Stop pretending that you’re not.”

Michael had been standing in front of Luke’s door for the past three minutes and his light knockings were starting to turn into bangings. He was already mad at Luke and that attitude that Luke was showing was only making it worse. Luke was his best friend; how could he do that to him? He knew younger boy wanted to help but that was not a reason to go and tell Ashton about his private life; on top of it all Luke was not opening the door when he could clearly tell that Luke was inside. That was the limit. Michael let out a sigh before again banging on the door. He swore the moment Luke would open the door, he would twist his ear and give him a piece of his mind but he was not opening the door and Michael was starting to lose his patience. If Luke was stubborn and did not intend to open the door, so was he and he was not going to move until he spoke to Luke.

He had so many things to talk to Luke about; first, he had sent him to that ridiculously good-looking guy and then, he had gone and tell him that he was a virgin, making look like a complete idiot. Did he just think that Ashton was good-looking? Michael had a moment of confusion but then he shook his head; it was whatever because Ashton may be good-looking but he was not Michael’s type. Not that he had a type but if he had one, Ashton would not fit in that category. Why was he even thinking about Ashton? That was the past and he was not going to see him again, no matter what Luke would say or how he would try to convince him to. That one meeting that they had had, he was going to consider it as a dream and forget about it. He knew he needed help but he was not going to let a stranger come into his life and tell him how to live it. If ever he needed help, he would simply ask Calum.

“Hi,” Luke grinned as he flung the door open.

“What took you so long?”

“I was trying to get ready.”

Michael let his eyes trail down Luke’s body and he realised the other boy was only wearing pants. “Where are you going?”

Luke let out a little laugh at Michael, who had dropped his backpack on the floor and taken a seat on the couch. “It’s Friday night and I’m going out. I’m not like you.”

“What do you mean, like me?”

“You’re twenty-one, you still stay with your parents and for you a Friday night means, being cooped up in your room, playing games or talking to Calum. You never wanna do anything fun with me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with living with your parents,” Michael protested.

“I know but I wished you’d go out more often and have fun, maybe get drunk and do stupid things that you’ll eventually regret the next morning.”

“Why would I want to do something that I’ll regret? It does not make sense.”

“See, this is what I’m talking about. You’re never up for some adventure.”

“Fine, let’s go out,” Michael finally said after a long minute.

Luke looked at him from head to toes. “Like this? You can’t go out like this. Here’s what we’re gonna do. Tomorrow night we’re going out. Just me and you.”

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Michael frowned.

“Everything. You need to be dressed to impress. How else are you gonna meet other people?”

“I don’t want to impress anyone. And talking about meeting other people, why did you send me to that guy’s house?”

“Who? Ashton? You met him?” Luke smiled.

“Don’t act like you don’t know. He told me he was on the phone with you.”

Luke grinned sheepishly before squealing excitedly. “So, how was it? What did you guys do?”

“Nothing. Going there was the biggest mistake of my life. And why would you tell him that I’m a virgin?”

“Because you are,” the younger boy stated. “And you shouldn’t be. You’re twenty-one,” Luke reminded him.

“I was saving myself for the right person and I found him. It’s Calum.”

“Exactly, and so that you don’t look like a complete idiot in front of him, you need Ashton.”

“I don’t need him. He’s annoying and crude.”

“I like that.”

“Like what?”

“Your guards are up. It means, he’s getting to you.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Michael laughed.

“No, I’m being late,” Luke sighed.

“Late? Are you going with someone?” Michael asked as Luke pulled on his black button up shirt.

“I’m going out with that girl I met at the club last week?”

“Since when are you into girls?”

“Since always.”

“Really? But you’ve always dated guys,” Michael pointed out; he had known Luke almost all his life and the other boy had never been with a girl before.

“Yeah, but recently I’ve realised something. I’m into everything that is hot baby,” Luke wriggled his eyebrows.

“Even a teapot?” Michael laughed.

“No, silly. I’m talking about people. And you’re hot too baby.”

Michael raised an eyebrow as Luke grinned at him. “Do you think of me…”

“No, gosh. You’re my best friend and I don’t think about you naked in my bed,” Luke said and Michael scrunched his nose at how bluntly Luke had put it. “Enough about me. When are you going to meet Ashton again?”

“I’m not.”

“Why not?”

“This is a conversation that I don’t want to have. Bye.”

“Wait!” Luke called as he followed Michael, who was already making his way to the door.

“You’re getting late. Have fun, bye. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

**Two Hours Later**

Michael logged in to his Facebook and stared at the screen of his laptop; Calum was offline. He dropped himself on his back and thought back about his day. That day was so unlike any other normal days he would have and even though he had said he would forget about it, he could not. He could get the image of Ashton out of his head; it would have been one thing if he had only met him but he had kissed him. He did not know anything about Ashton and still, he had kissed him. He did not know what had gotten into him at that time because normally, he would not do things like that and Michael was not sure he wanted to know why he acted that way. Then the realisation hit him, he had kissed a guy and that guy was not Calum. He grabbed his pillow and pressed it to his face; what was he going to tell Calum? How was he even going to tell him that? Guilt was slowly starting to eat him inside.

It was all Luke’s fault; neither had he sent him to Ashton, nor none of what had happened would have happened. Luke always had crazy ideas and it was very stupid of him to heed him. He had gone to Luke with one thing on his mind but instead of scolding like he had intended to, he had casually talked him and then gotten back home. That was another dumb thing he had done that day and he was cursing himself because usually he would think twice before acting. He wished he could rewind back to before he had gone to meet Ashton and did things differently, Michael’s style, which was a simple day without any kind of trouble. What had been done, had been done and no matter what he did or thought, there was nothing he could do about it; so, there was no point in thinking about what he could have done instead. People made bad decisions every day and that day Michael made his; he just had to learn from it and not make the same mistakes again.

Next time, he was not going to listen to Luke’s advice, unless his brain had convinced him that he would not regret it afterwards. Michael sighed; he was making it sound like Luke always gave bad advices, which was not true because as spontaneous as Luke might be, he was also smart and knew when to do what, except in that one case where it seemed like Luke was not thinking straight. As much as he wanted to forget everything, he kept replaying his day over and over in his head. He was brought back from his thoughts when he heard a sound and, sitting straight again, he realised it was a video call from Calum. A smile instantly appeared on his face the moment he accepted the call and Calum’s face appeared on the screen. Calum’s face, that was what he needed to push aside everything that had been bothering him ever since he returned home. That was always the best part of his days, video chatting with Calum; there was not a day where he would miss chatting with Calum.

“Hey Baby, how are you?”

“Hey Sweetie, I’m good. How are you? How was your day?” Michael smiled and adjusted the laptop in his lap as he shifted to rest against the headboard.

“Same usual stuff. What about yours?”

“Nothing great. I went out, then I went to meet Luke, who almost kicked me out because he was getting late to get ready to go out. That’s all.”

“New boyfriend again?”

“No, apparently it’s a girl this time. That’s all I know. You know Luke, he’s not going to say anything about it unless it’s serious.”

“Well, enough about Luke. Did you miss me?”

“Of course I did. I can’t wait to see you. Did you miss me?”

“Is that even a question? Of course I missed you. I was actually thinking about things that we could do when I come back,” the brunette wriggled his eyebrows.

“I can’t wait to hold you in my arms and just kiss you.”

“I was thinking about more than just kissing your yummy lips, although that’s all I want to keep doing.”

Michael gulped; Luke was right after all. Calum was looking forward to have sex with him when he came back. The mere thought was making him blush and he wondered if Calum could see it through the camera. It was not like he did not want to have sex with Calum, he was not ready for that yet. He had thought about it countless times in the past but he was never ready to ask Calum. Anyone else in his place would have already slept with Calum because Calum was very attractive with his beautiful chocolate eyes, dark hair, plump lips, well-built body and he was the nicest guy Michael had ever met. People may call him old-fashion and uptight and whatever else but he was not in a rush to lose his virginity since that was something that you could still hold to as long as you did not lose it and he was waiting for the right and special time to do that; that was what he intended to do.

“Baby, what happened? You’re zoning out,” Calum said while waving at the screen.

“Nothing, I was just thinking about you being here. It’s so exciting.”

“Yeah, it’s going to be so much fun. There are so many things I wanna do with you, to show you how much I’ve missed every single day I’ve spent without you.”

“Seems like you’ve planned everything.”

“You’re my boyfriend and I want it to be perfect.”

Michael could not overlook the fact that Calum had emphasised on the ‘it’ and he could guess what the other boy was talking about. “What did you plan?”

“That, Baby, is my surprise,” Calum smiled. “Each day is going to be special and I’ll let you find out at the right time.”

Although he was a bit anxious about the sex part, Michael was very excited about what Calum had planned because last time Calum had a surprise, he loved it. “Tell me. I’m getting impatient.”

“No…”

“Oh wait! My phone’s ringing.” Michael grabbed his phone from the bedside table and looked at the screen before shrugging and setting it beside him when he saw an unknown number.

“Who’s is it?”

“I don’t know but it’s probably not worth wasting the time a get with you on.”

“You should get it. It could be important. And I should get going, I have an early morning tomorrow.”

“Bye. I love you,” Michael waved after blowing a few kisses.

Just when he was about to pick up the phone, it stopped ringing and Michael again shrugged as he closed the lid of his laptop and placed it on the floor by the bed. He yawned and slid further down on the mattress before pulling the blanket over his shoulders and getting comfortable to sleep. He was nearly starting to doze off when the sound of his ringing phone jolted him and he cursed loudly.

“Hello,” Michael said sleepily.

“Did I wake you?”

Michael frowned at the unfamiliar voice and scratched his head; it was probably a wrong number. “Who is this?”

“It’s Ashton.”

Michael sat up straight in his bed at the mention of that name. Ashton was calling him? How was Ashton calling him if he never gave him his number?

“Michael? Are you still there?”

“How did you get my number?”

“We had a rough start and I was hoping we could redo everything and start over. I got your number from Luke. You wanna grab lunch tomorrow so that we can start afresh?”

“I’m sorry but we are not starting anything again. Showing up at your door was a mistake and I realise that now. Maybe you should delete my number and pretend you never met me.”

“Wow! That was unexpected. I really wanted to get to know you but you just keep running away.”

“You know more than enough about me.”

“But I still feel like I don’t know you enough.”

“I don’t know what you have in mind but I have a boyfriend and I’m not interested,” Michael said before hanging up.

Michael scoffed as he looked at his phone; he could not believe that Ashton had the guts to call him after he had made it clear that he was done. If he had known it was Ashton calling, he would never have picked up. He did not know if it was Luke’s doing or if Ashton took it upon himself to call him but he was going to make sure not to pick up if he saw that number again. Talking to Calum had made him forget all that had happened that day but that one phone call had brought everything back. Michael sighed as he closed his eyes and tried to sleep; maybe he would wake up and all that would just have been a bad dream.


	3. Accidental

Michael walked closely behind Luke as they made their way to the entrance of the club. He was clutching the front of his denim jacket, where the buttons were, and if he was being honest with himself, he was quite apprehensive; he had never been to a club on a Saturday night, or any other night of his life, and he did not know what he should be expecting. Damn, he did not even know what the inside of a club looked like. The closest he had seen the inside of one was in movies and he knew movies were very different from reality. He quickened his pace when he realised he had fallen behind and Luke was already by the door, talking to a guy, who let them inside. Michael swallowed as he kept walking; there, he had done it, he was no longer a club-virgin. He took a deep breath and coughed a little when he inhaled a whole lot of smoke before looking around himself. There was the bar, some places to sit, the DJ booth, some people drinking, some people talking and laughing, some people dancing and nothing to be alarm about. Finally, he let out a sigh and loosened his shoulders.

“I can’t believe you’re actually here, with me,” Luke grinned when they reached the bar.

“I can’t believe I’m here with you,” Michael stated.

“What can I get for you?”

“A ride back home?” Michael laughed when Luke stared at him.

“Haha… very funny. What can I get you to drink?”

“A beer is fine.”

Luke rolled his eyes as he turned to the bartender; he was not expecting Michael to take any other stronger alcohol but he was glad the older boy did not say coke because in that case, he would definitely have kicked him. “Your drink,” he said as he pushed the beer into Michael’s hand. “Let’s go find a place to sit.”

“Sure. What are you having?”

“Whiskey and coke,” Luke wriggled his eyebrows and dropped himself on a lounge.

“Now what?”

“Now? We have our drink, hang around a little and then you find somebody to mingle with,” Luke said before taking a sip of his drink.

“I didn’t come here to mingle with people. I came here to hang out with you.”

“Why come here and do that? If you only wanted to hang out with me, we could have stayed home and do that.”

“You said I don’t do anything fun. I came here to hang out with you and didn’t stay ‘cooped up in my room, playing games or talking to Calum’,” Michael pointed out while quoting Luke. “You should be happy about that.”

“I am but I’d be happier if you mingle.”

“You know I don’t believe in one night stands.”

“Yes, I know you don’t. You’re saving yourself for The One. But I didn’t say anything about sex. You can just talk to people, have fun and stuffs.”

“Luke?”

Luke lifted his head when he heard a familiar voice. “Oh, hey. What’s up? Long time, no see.”

Ashton wrapped his arms around Luke, who stood up, and hugged him back. “I’m busy, you’re busy, we’re always busy. Michael? Good to see you again.”

Michael looked at Ashton, at Luke and then back and forth a few times with a frown. Finally, he directed his attention to Luke. “You set me up? I can’t believe I believed you when you said you wanted to hang out with me.”

“What? I didn’t set you up,” Luke said in defence.

“You did. You brought me here and then you called him.”

“Sorry to interrupt your little banter but Luke didn’t call me.”

“Exactly I didn’t call him,” Luke added.

“What is he doing here then?”

“It’s a public place and Ashton can be here if he wants. He’s right here and he can hear you. Stop talking about him.”

“It’s ok, Luke. I’ll just leave you two,” Ashton smiled and turned around.

“What? Of course not. Sit with us.” Luke grabbed Ashton’s wrist and pulled him back, making the older boy sit next to him.

“I’m going to get another drink,” Michael announced as he got to his feet.

“But your bottle is still full,” Luke looked at the bottle that was on the table and stated.

“I think he’s only trying to run away from me,” Ashton laughed.

“Why will I run away from you?” Michael snorted.

“I don’t know?” Ashton shrugged.

Unwillingly, Michael sat back down and stayed quiet as he brought his bottle to his lips; if he kept his mouth shut, the other two would stop talking about him. Like he had thought, Luke had turned his attention to Ashton and they had started conversing among themselves; suddenly, it was like he was not even there and it was only the two of them. Michael rolled his eyes and then sighed. He was definitely unlucky, at least that was what he was feeling. The only person he had hoped he would never ever see again for the rest of his life, was sitting right there, across from him and he felt helpless because he could get out of there. Firstly, he had promised Luke he would hang out with him at the club and secondly, no matter what he did, he knew Luke would not let him get away. Luke and Ashton were sitting so close to each other and were actively talking to each other and there was something about that that was making Michael feel uneasy. He did not know what it was but it made him feel weird.

Ever since he met Ashton, it made him feel sick inside and when Ashton let out a laugh, something happened in him. Something that he could not explain but it made him feel frustrated and he wanted to kick Ashton for it. That behaviour was so unlike him but that was how he was feeling at that moment. He was starting to regret going there with Luke because that was the second day in a row that he made a bad decision because of Luke. It did not matter if Luke thought he liked to cocoon himself at home and play games because that was what he liked to do and that was what he should have been doing; sitting in front of his computer, playing games, away from Ashton and away from the fact that Luke wanted him to do things with Ashton. Michael shook his head at those thoughts because he had vowed to banish them from his mind and also the fact that he had met and kissed Ashton. Instead, he should be taking deep breaths and pretend that guy was a random person and not Ashton.

“Why are you so quiet?” Ashton asked and pulled him back to reality.

“Because I don’t have anything to say.”

“Oh come on. It’s not like we’re strangers.”

“It’s not like we’re friends either.”

Luke puffed. “Don’t mind him. I forgot to mention that Michael can be such a prick sometimes.”

“Hey, I’m right here and I heard that.”

“He’s here. I’ll catch you two later. Have fun,” Luke finished his drink and left those two.

Michael turned to look in the direction that Luke was going and shook his head. Luke had told him about his previous night and how he had ditched that girl he was supposed to be hooking up with and went with some guy with curly blonde hair. The moment Luke was out of sight, he realised he was left alone with Ashton, the only person on earth he did not want to be with. He did not feel any better when Ashton shifted closer to him and he wished he would just disappear. He looked at his drink and decided to get out of there as soon as he finished it; that way Ashton would not have the opportunity to say that he ran away the moment Luke left.

“So, how was your day?” Ashton asked, trying to make the simplest and most casual conversation.

Michael frowned but let out a sighed; what was wrong with him? Maybe Ashton was not trying to do anything else to him, other than just talking, and there he was being a jerk. Where were his manners? “Good, I guess. Just the usual. What about yours?”

“It was awesome. I slept until 2. Had something to eat. Did the laundry that I didn’t do in a week or so. Watched a movie. Had a shower, got ready and here I am.”

“Wow! And my mom says I’m lazy. Your Saturday turned out to be better than mine,” Michael smiled.

Ashton also smiled; he was glad that Michael was finally opening up and was actually having a proper conversation with him. He knew they were not talking about anything great but that was good for a start. He had thought the moment Luke was gone, Michael would leave too but he had not and Ashton was hoping things would work out between them. He had never taught anyone anything in his life but when Luke had told him about Michael and what he should be doing, he was pretty excited. Unfortunately, things had not gone as he had planned them and Michael only left in a hurry. After talking to Michael the previous night, he had lost hope of ever seeing or talking to him but there they were sitting side by side and drinking. He did not know if Michael realised but he had moved even closer to the other boy and he did not know if it was the alcohol talking but he thought Michael was cute; although it could not be because he was still on his first drink.

“You’re not going to believe this but this is the first time I’ve been in the club,” Michael said after talking to Ashton for almost half an hour.

“What? Seriously? I don’t believe you. How old are you again?”

“I’m twenty-one and yes, this is my first time in a club.”

“Wow, cheers to that. Everyone I know used to get fake ids because they were not allowed in. But you, you’re quite a specimen and I mean that in a good way.”

“That’s me.”

“What do you do at night during the weekends then?”

“Watch movies, play games and sleep?”

“Tell me you don’t do that alone.”

“Look at this,” Michael motioned around them. “This is not my scene.”

“Do you want to get out of here?”

“I’d love to.” Michael got up, took a few steps and turned to Ashton again. “I should let Luke know that we’re leaving.”

“Ok,” Ashton nodded.

Before Michael had the time to do or say anything else, somebody bumped into him from behind and he stumbled forward and crashed into Ashton’s chest. Instinctively, Ashton wrapped his arms around his waist to steady him and they stayed there unmoving. It seemed like the clock had stopped ticking and they stared into each other’s eyes for a long time. Michael could feel his heart thumping against his ribs but his body seemed frozen and he kept staring into Ashton’s eyes. Gradually, Ashton closed the distance between them and pressed their lips together. The moment the older boy’s lips moved against his, Michael regained his composure and he pushed Ashton away. He turned on his heels and left after muttering a series of words that Ashton did not have time to register. Ashton blinked a couple of times and when he finally realised what happened, he saw Michael disappearing into the crowd and he was making his way towards the exit.

“Michael? Michael wait,” he called as he ran after the other boy.

“What? What do you want? I can’t believe I trusted you. I actually thought you were a nice guy,” Michael growled as he turned to face Ashton.

“I’m sorry. I really am. I don’t know what happened. It was just the alcohol, the heat of the club, and you were so close. Shit, it just happened. I’m sorry.”

“Whatever.”

“Hold on,” Ashton grabbed Michael’s arm and prevented him from walking away. “Give me a chance to show you that I’m sorry. I’ll get down on my knees and apologise.”

“What are you doing? Stop,” Michael looked around them, at the people walking in the street. “People are watching,” he added even though no one was paying attention to them.

“How about I hold my ears and do sit ups?”

Laughing, Michael shook his head. “Fine, I forgive you. Just don’t do any of those.”

“Deal,” Ashton grinned. “We won’t do anything you don’t appreciate.”

“Deal.”

“Where are we going?” Ashton asked as he followed Michael.

“I don’t know. Anywhere but here.”

“Ok, let’s go to… anywhere.”

“You’re funny.”

“You know I mean what I said yesterday when I called you. We did kick things with the wrong foot and I want to start over. You seem like a nice guy and you’re pretty cool. I would really like to get to know you and be friends.”

“I would like that too,” Michael said and added in his head, ‘as long as you don’t try anything funny.’

About an hour later, they were still walking around in the street, talking and laughing out loud and anyone who would look at them would never guess that it was only the second time they were meeting each other or that Michael thought Ashton was a creep, who only wanted to get into his pants. It turned out that he was not the guy Michael had thought he was and he was actually a lot of fun to hang out with. For the first time that night, he did not regret he had gone to the club with Luke because he was having a good time with Ashton, a much better time than he would have anticipated. Michael was not the only one who was surprised by the turn of events. When Michael had walked through his door the previous afternoon, Ashton would never have guessed that that same shy guy would be walking in the streets with him in the middle of the night, 24hrs later. It was unexpected for both of them but neither of them was going to complain.

“Hey Ashton? I’m sorry.”

“About what?” Ashton frowned.

“I was a jerk to you since we met. I was so caught up in things that I did not stop to think that you could be a great person.”

“That’s nice to hear but don’t worry about it. I’d probably have done the same thing if I was you.”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

“How would you know I wouldn’t?”

“How would you know you would?” Michael replied.

“I’m just saying. Anyways, I’m glad I met you today.”

“Same here. So what do you do for a living? Do you usually teach people stuffs?”

“No,” Ashton laughed. “To be honest, it’s the first time I’m doing something like this. Was going to,” he corrected.

“That’s funny cause Luke seemed pretty confident when he said you’re the right person for this.”

“I am the right person for this,” the older boy stated.

“How do you know if you’ve never done this?”

“I just know. Damn, you ask so many questions.”

“I should. You know so many things about me and I feel like I don’t know you enough.”

Ashton stopped when he realised where they were. “I can’t believe we walked all the way to my apartment.”

Michael lifted his head to look at the building; the building he had tried to cast out of his head but had failed. “I guess it’s goodbye then.”

“Hey, do you want to come in?”


	4. It's A Lips Thing

Michael rolled onto his back as he thought back to what had happened the previous night. In the past forty-eight hours, he had kissed Ashton twice and he could not get those images out of his mind. The first time he was the one who had kissed Ashton and it was just like any other kisses he had had, short and simple with lips lightly pressed against one another. However, the second time, the older boy was the one who had kissed him and it was different from what he was used to; it was slightly more intense, mixed with the taste of alcohol and the way Ashton’s lips had moved against his was simply… Michael sighed; why was he even thinking about Ashton? It was seven on a Sunday morning and usually he was still fast asleep at that time but somehow, that day he was wide awake, which was surprising considering he had a late night, with Ashton. Ashton, there he was thinking about that guy again.

He had made a decision the previous night, a decision he did not know why he had made; it was probably the three beers that he had had that did that and not him in his conscious mind. What he really needed at that moment was a long and hot shower to clear his mind of those irrational thoughts. Pushing the blanket off his body, Michael lazily scratched his head and walked to the bathroom in a zombie-like manner. He entered the shower cubicle and pressed his back against the glass wall before opening the faucet and letting the water splash on his face. It felt good and, shifting under the jet, he closed his eyes and let the water ran down himself, from his head to his toes. He stayed in the position, unmoving, and hoped that whatever spell had been casted onto him would go down the drain and he would start thinking straight again. He ran his fingers through his wet hair and unlike what he had thought, the shower was not helping to get images of Ashton out of his head.

He would never have thought he would have hung out with Ashton and returned home at midnight. It was surprising to himself because he was not normally good with people and the only person he could talk to and laugh for hours with was Luke but that was because he had known Luke for most of his life and there was nothing they could not talk about. With Ashton, he did not have to try hard, it just happened and things were just flowing between them, just like with Luke. Most importantly, he could not help but think about the second kiss they had shared and how Ashton’s lips had felt against him. Before that, the only guy he had ever kissed was Calum and kissing Ashton was nothing like kissing Calum. He felt like he was in a dilemma because Calum was his boyfriend and Ashton was just a guy he had met twice. He loved the way he had kissed Ashton and he wanted to kiss Calum that way and that thought was what led him to make that decision the previous night.

“Shit!” he muttered when his obnoxious ringtone brought him out of his thought and he realised he had gone in the shower with his pyjama on. “What’s wrong with you, Michael?” he said to himself as he stepped out of the stall and quickly stripped out of the wet clothes, tossing them in the basket before grabbing a towel. “Hello?”

“Hey, did I wake you?”

“No, I was actually in the shower. How was your night and how come you’re up so early?” Michael put the phone on loudspeaker and, setting it on his bed, he walked to his closet to get himself some clothes.

“Ugh… don’t ask about my night. I had a terrible time. I was looking for you but I guess you already left. That’s why I’m calling, to see if you reached home safely.”

“Luke, I’m twenty-one, not twelve. Obviously I can reach home safely if left on my own.”

“I was just checking because it’s not your thing to be out alone at night,” Luke stated.

“I wasn’t alone, I left with Ashton…”

At the mention of Ashton’s name, Luke interrupted him and excitedly asked, “Ashton? Oh my god. What happened? I want all the juicy details.”

“Don’t get your hopes up because nothing happened. I dropped him home and came back home. That’s it.”

“How can you casually say that nothing happened? He’s Ashton, a good-looking, attractive, hot guy and don’t tell me those don’t do things to you.”

“No, they don’t.”

“What? Michael, you’re not normal.”

“I have a boyfriend and I have no interest in anyone else, no matter how good-looking, attractive and hot you think they are.”

“Are you at least going to meet him again… to do what I asked you to?”

“No Luke, I’m not.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to. Bye Luke. I’m gonna get some more sleep.”

“But…”

Michael disconnected the call and dropped himself onto his back with a smile on his lips; if Luke could be annoying, he could be as well.

**~*~*~*~*~**

Michael stood in front of that door that he had sworn never to see again and wondered whether he should knock or not; after all, he had not informed Ashton that he would be dropping by and he hoped he would not be disturbing the other boy. After talking to Luke, he had been thinking about calling Ashton but after dialling his number twice, he immediately ended the call. He did not know how to start that conversation and hence, had spent half the day thinking about it instead of actually doing something. He did not know how Ashton would react to that, especially after how he had behaved after that accidental kiss and yet, there he was standing in front of his door. He had spent all morning thinking about it and about Calum; it was not like he would be cheating on Calum because he was only going to learn those things to please him. Thus, he concluded he should listen to Luke and do it because if he thought the kissing was great, he did not want to think about all the other things he would learn.

“Are you going to knock or what?”

Michael jolted at the sound of a voice behind him and he turned around to find Ashton standing there, grinning at him. “Hey! You have to stop doing that.”

“And you have to stop standing in front of my door and not do anything. It’s creepy.”

“I… huh… sorry. I didn’t… didn’t know if you were busy or not. It was silly of me to show up here so suddenly,” Michael rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment; with the three beers of the previous night no longer in his body, he did not feel as confident in front of Ashton.

“Do you want to come in? Or are you going to refuse, like last night?”

“Yes, I want to come inside…” he said and stepped aside to let Ashton unlock the door.

“What brings you here? Not that I don’t want you to be here. I just was not expecting you to be back.”

“I’ve been thinking about it. I’m ready,” Michael sighed and walked inside before taking a seat on the couch.

“Sorry, what was that? I didn’t quite catch anything. It happened so fast and you kinda mumbled everything,” Ashton let out a little awkward laugh, even though he knew very well what Michael had said.

“Do I have to say it again?”

“Yes.”

“You’re intentionally doing that, aren’t you?”

“I’m rather enjoying myself,” Ashton grinned.

Michael took a deep breath before speaking again. “Teach me Ashton. I’m ready to learn.”

“I knew you’d eventually come back.”

“What do you mean?” Michael raised an eyebrow.

“That you’d want to impress your boyfriend and there is no one else you could go to for help.”

“Who told you there is no one else I could go to? And you’re so full of yourself.”

“Is there now? You being here is the biggest proof that there’s no one.”

“Whatever… do you want to do it or not?”

“Yeah, but are you sure you’re ready for this?”

“I guess I am or I wouldn’t be here.”

“Ok if we’re doing this, we’re doing this. If there’s anything you’re not comfortable with, you should let me know.”

“Yes, I will. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me now, thank me when we’re done. When do you want to start?” Ashton asked because last time he initiated something, everything went wrong.

“Huh… whenever you want…”

“Right now? If it’s ok with you.”

“Umm… ok… What kind of things are we going to do?”

“Anything you want to learn,” Ashton laughed.

“Or what would you recommend?”

“Judging by what I’ve been told, I would say everything but then again, that’s up to you. Ready?”

Michael nodded and took a deep breath when Ashton took a seat on the couch beside him; he may have said he was ready but he was nervous as hell. Ashton folded a leg under him and left the other hanging off the edge of the couch as he turned to face Michael and motioned the other boy to do the same. Without saying anything, Michael mirrored Ashton’s position and looked at the older boy, who was looking right back at him. Slowly licking his lips, he leant forward and when Ashton did the same, he grazed Ashton’s lips with his, sighing against the older boy’s moist lips. He closed his eyes and pressed their lips firmer together. Unlike the first time he had done that, Michael restrained himself from pulling back and kept his lips against Ashton’s for a few more seconds.

“Ok, hang on. I know you’ve never done anything before but I’m sure you know how things work, right?”

“Uhh huh…” Michael nodded, although he was not quite sure what Ashton was talking about at that moment.

“Kissing is just like lips having sex. You have to move them around to get to the good and best part,” Ashton said and Michael scrunched his nose. “You just lose yourself in the moment and let it happen. The more you hold back, the less pleasurable it will be. Got it? Now, just kiss the fuck out of me.”

Michael nodded and gulped; he felt so helpless, lame even for not knowing what to do. Taking a deep breath, he again leant closer, hoping he could do better. He was certain teenagers could do better than him and that was doing nothing to boost the little amount of confidence that he had in him. To top it all, Ashton’s choice of words was making him feel hot in the cheeks. Michael, very gently, connected their lips together and relaxed when the other boy wrapped his arms around his neck before pressing their lips harder together; just like he had the previous night. Like Ashton had said, it was not so hard to kiss someone and it was _‘just like lips having sex’_ , but then again, he had never had sex before; so, how was he supposed to know what to be doing? Ashton was supposed to make things simpler for him but it did not look like that was the case. One thing he was glad about though was that Ashton was taking things slow unlike how he had abruptly kissed him at the club the previous night.

As Ashton slowly started to move his lips, Michael tried to mirror his action and he too moved his lips slightly; he could not see what Ashton was doing but he was trying to do what he could feel was happening against his lips. Ashton smiled against Michael’s lips as he was glad that Michael had taken the initiative to do something, rather than just sitting there and saying he did not know how to. So far Michael was doing fine and Ashton wanted to bury his fingers into Michael’s hair and speed things up but he also did not want to rush into things, in case Michael would get his guards up again. With that said, Ashton could not resist the urge and he let his teeth graze Michael’s bottom lip, instantly regretting doing so because Michael had pulled away.

“What happened?” Ashton asked with a tiny frown.

“Was it that bad?” Michael asked unsure instead of answering Ashton’s question.

“Why would you say that?”

“You bit me,” Michael stated.

Ashton let out a laugh. “I didn’t bite you because it was bad. Sometimes just to add a little bit more excitement, you just use some teeth. Nothing harsh, just you know, a bit of sucking and gentle biting. You were doing fine, by the way. Just let go of the boundaries and do it.”

“I’ll try to… I mean, I’m trying.”

“Now do it with a little bit more feelings, like you want to and not because you have to. Be in the moment with me. Like, yes I wanna kiss your lips Ashton. I can’t get enough of your lips against mine. Can you do that?”

“Uhh…” Michael did know how to respond to that because normally, people did not talk to him like that and he just stared at Ashton.

“Don’t just go blank on me. Usually these things should make you want to kiss me right now. Just give in to your urges and do it.”

“I… huh…”

“Fucking kiss me already.”

Michael nodded when Ashton grabbed the front of his sweater and pulled him closer, almost crashing their chests together. Their faces were only inches away and when Ashton whispered ‘kiss me’ against his lips, Michael closed the gap between them and connected their lips. Unlike the other tries they had in the past hour, rather than just pressing their lips together, Michael had indeed let go of all the things that were restraining him and let himself be engulf by the warmth and moistness of Ashton’s lips. It was not a heated or needy kiss but Michael was moving his lips against Ashton’s and shifted closer to the other boy when Ashton’s arms tightened around him. A little shiver ran down Michael’s spine as Ashton trailed his hands down his arms and, taking the younger boy’s hands into his, he placed them on his waist before wrapping one of his hands around Michael’s neck and lacing the other through his hair. He again grazed Michael’s bottom lip with his teeth and eventually took it between his teeth. A gasp left Michael’s lips as Ashton sucked on his lower lip and he slightly pulled away, his face flushed.

“You’re a fast learner,” Ashton said, still trying to catch his breath. “Let’s…”

Michael cut him off by claiming his lips again, taking Ashton and himself by surprise. Ashton had barely had the time to register what was happening and Michael’s lips was already moving against his. For one second, he was confused and he was certain that that was not happening and he was only imaging things but what happened next cleared his doubts. Michael had gently bit on his lower lip and after what seemed like a couple of seconds of hesitation, he was sucking on Ashton’s lips, trying to do the same thing Ashton had done only moments earlier. Instinctively, his hands made their way under Ashton’s hoodie and they trailed up his back. When he felt the warmth coming from Ashton’s skin against his palm, Michael quickly pulled away.

“I don’t even know why I did that. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologise. That was fuck… that’s what I was talking about. That’s how you do it, Baby.”

“That was unexpected. I don’t usually do things like that,” Michael mumbled as he glanced at Ashton’s lips that were swollen and much pinker than before.

“You should let go more often, you’d be surprise,” Ashton chuckled. “How about we take things to the next  
level?”

Next level? Michael’s eyes widened; there were more than that? He was not sure he was ready for more yet because he was still not believing what he had done already.

 


	5. Learning, Not Cheating

“I don’t think I can…”

“I think you’re underestimating yourself,” Ashton encouraged with a smile. “You just did something that I was not expecting and after that, I’m ready to expect the unexpected from you. I believe that was a first of many more firsts.”

Yes, he had totally outdone himself; he had to agree with Ashton on that one. Since he had stepped into Ashton’s house, he had kissed the older boy numerous times and during some of those times, he had caught himself enjoying it. That was not supposed to be happening; the only person he was supposed to be kissing and enjoying it was with Calum. At the thought of Calum, he felt a weird feeling pooling inside him. He felt guilty for doing that because he felt like he was cheating on Calum. Oh no, what was he doing? Cheating was not in his nature and he should get out of there before it was too late and things were no longer in his control. Michael was going to get up and get his backpack but then there was another little voice in his head that told him otherwise. Whatever he was doing, he was doing it for Calum, not for his own pleasure or satisfaction. He was only learning, not cheating; those were two very different things.

“Michael? Don’t zone out on me. Last time you did that, you had an outburst and you were out of my house the moment you came to yourself.”

“I’m not… zoning out. I’m fine. What were you saying?” Michael blinked as he looked at Ashton.

“I was talking about kissing, with tongues.”

“Right,” Michael nodded. “Because kissing needs to include tongues too. And why should it not?”

“I wanna kiss those lips again,” Ashton whispered before licking his lips and running this thumb across Michael’s lower lip at the same time.

 _‘Shit,’_ Michael cursed inwardly. There was that funny feeling in his stomach again; those words, Ashton’s thumb on his lips and the way he was looking at him, they were all making him want to press his lips to Ashton’s again. Oddly enough, during the two years of dating Calum and out of all the times that they had spent together, he had never felt that unexplained urge to kiss him the way he was wanting to kiss Ashton. It had always been sweet and innocent between them but at that moment, he was wanting more, he was desperate for it, like he needed air. Something was wrong with him because that person sitting in Ashton’s living room was definitely not him. He was always down to earth and never acted on impulse but the opposite of that was happening. He had to take things into his own hands before they slipped out of the limit. Taking a deep breath, he decided to loosen the atmosphere and take it slow.

“Do you say that to everyone you want to kiss?” Michael laughed.

“No, not everyone… just special ones.”

“So, there are special and non-special ones?”

“You could say that.”

“You think you’re charming, don’t you?”

Ashton let out a laugh at that question. “Well, I am charming. I’ve been told countless times.”

“And that’s exactly the reason why you’ve been getting your ways with everyone, right?”

“Not everyone. You’re different… in a good way.”

“Yeah but I’m not one of those people you want to do things with. We’re here because of a different reason.”

“Yeah but if I want to, I can get you to do what I want. Like you said, I have my ways,” he laughed and Michael knew he was only joking.

“You’re so full of yourself.”

“If you want, you can be full of me too,” the older boy wriggled his eyebrows.

Michael made a face before rolling his eyes. “And your charms are not working on me.”

“Really? I think you talking so much is only an excuse to run away from the things that you want to do.”

“I’m not running away.”

“Yeah? Why don’t we get back to where we were? I believe your lips are supposed to be on mine and tongue against mine, doing things.”

“Why rush things? We’ve just started kissing.”

“Making out is kissing, just with tongues.”

“Can’t we go slow and easy?”

“When is Calum coming again?”

“On the twenty-third.”

“That means we only have nine days left.”

“Yeah, that’s plenty of time right?”

“Plenty of time? You’ve got to be kidding. If you want to try everything and do them proper, that’s not enough time.”

“I’m not sure about ‘everything’ but yeah, I do want to learn some stuffs,” Michael laughed nervously. “And maybe we should try the kissing one more time before adding the tongues. I’m not sure I got it right yet.”

“Stop underestimating yourself, you’re doing fine. Trust me.”

“Ok…,” Michael took a deep breath. “So… hmm… how am I supposed to do this?”

“It’s basically the same thing that you’ve been doing but incorporate your tongue, instead of just moving your lips against mine. Lick my lips from time to time.”

“Oh-kay…”

Ashton kept his eyes on Michael; he looked and sounded unsure. “How about I show you first and then you can try it? Just mimic whatever I’m doing, ok?”

Ashton smiled when Michael nodded. Slowly, he inched his face closer to the other boy, who did the same, and connected their lips. They stayed like that for a couple of seconds before Ashton started moving his lips. He began slowly, giving Michael the time to process what he was doing and then hopefully do the same. Gently, he slipped his tongue past his slightly parted lips and licked across Michael’s moist lips. A little, barely audible, whimper escaped Michael’s lips but Ashton did not fail to catch it and he smiled into the kiss. He repeated that action and as he had thought, Michael let out another little sound. Very slowly, he pushed the tip of his tongue into the younger boy’s mouth, testing his resistance and when Michael did not flinch or pull back, he slipped his tongue inside. His hands, which were on Michael’s waist, tightened their grip and he pulled the younger boy closer to himself as he tilted his head to the side. He licked the inner side of Michael’s cheek and Michael’s hands fisted the back of Ashton’s shirt, letting out a groan, when Ashton pressed his tongue against his.

Ashton’s hand trailed down Michael’s back and, pushing the hem of his tee aside, he sneaked it under. He then slowly slid the tip of two fingers under the elastic of Michael’s boxers while he was tugging on the bottom of the shirt with his other hand. When he realised what he was doing and that he was probably going too fast for the other boy, he decided to pull away but seeing that Michael did not seem to mind how things were going, he left his hands where they were. At that point, he was even more convinced that Michael was a quick learner because the younger boy had wrapped his arms around his neck and had deepened the kiss. Eventually, Michael pulled away, panting as he looked at Ashton.

“Your turn,” Ashton said through equally heavy breathings.

“My turn?”

“Yeah, try to imitate me. You’ll be fine. It’s not so hard.”

“Ok,” Michael said as he inhaled deeply. He inched his face closer to Ashton and licked his lips as he stared at Ashton’s lips. “I can’t do it…”

“I’m sure you can,” Ashton smiled and rubbed his arm encouragingly.

“I… I don’t know Ashton. I’m not used to kissing people like this. Correction, I’ve never kissed anyone like this.”

“Hmm… that’s the whole point. You’re learning.”

Michael sighed. “I still don’t know…”

“Ok, let’s try it like this: I’m gonna lie down on the couch and you get on top of me,” Ashton stated, already shifting.

Michael looked down at Ashton and sucked his lower lip between his teeth with uncertainty. “Are you sure?”

“Just do it.”

Slowly, he climbed on top of the other boy and lay down on him. The moment he had settled, a gasp instantly left his mouth because Ashton had pulled his legs apart and had made him straddle his hips. He fanned his fingers on Ashton’s chest and locked eyes with him. When Ashton’s hands trailed up his thighs to his hips, he closed his eyes and swallowed. However, his eyes fluttered open again and, looking into Ashton’s eyes, he gradually closed the distance between them. His lips had only brushed against Ashton’s when there was a knock on the door and Michael quickly got off Ashton, suddenly self-conscious of what was happening.

“Shit!” Ashton muttered as he got up and walked to the door. “It’s Luke,” he said as he turned to look at Michael.

“What? Oh no, this is not good,” Michael panicked. “What is Luke doing here? Did you call him? Oh my god, you called him. How could you?”

“Calm down. I didn’t call him and I don’t know why he’s here. Did you tell him you were coming here?”

“Huh… no…”

“Alright,” Ashton exhaled as he looked at Michael, who looked like he did not want Luke to know he was there. “The bedroom is down the corridor. Stay there and I’ll handle Luke.”

“Bedroom? No. I don’t want to go to your bedroom.”

“Fine, go to the kitchen then.” Ashton let his eyes stay on Michael as he walked away and once he was out of sight, he opened the door. “Luke? What a pleasant surprise. Long time, no see.”

Luke hugged Ashton back and pulled back to raise an eyebrow at him. “We met yesterday, at the club, remember?”

“Right, I remember now. What brings you here?”

“What took you so long to open the door?”

“I… was busy.”

“With what?” He asked but smirked when he noticed Ashton’s swollen lips. “Or should I say, with who?”

“No one,” Ashton quickly replied. “I just had some important stuffs to do.”

Luke was about to leave but then something on the floor caught his attention; Michael’s backpack. He knew it belonged to Michael because he had himself given it to him for his last birthday. “I hope you don’t mind me staying for a while. I mean, you completely disappeared last night,” Luke smiled as he walked further inside.

Ashton laughed. “I disappeared? You mean, you disappeared with that guy.”

“Oops… so, have you heard from Michael?”

“No.”

“I really thought you could convince him but I guess I was wrong,” Luke said, trying to get something out of Ashton.

“Yeah, right you are. I mean, wrong you were,” he simply said.

“You should come over some time. We’ll have a sleepover, just like we’re so used to,” Luke smiled as he shifted closer to the other boy.

“Sure,” Ashton nodded; he figured if he kept the conversation simple, Luke would get bored and leave.

“Aren’t you gonna jump on me and kiss me like you always do?” he asked as he ran his thumb over Ashton’s lips.

**Almost one hour later**

Luke had finally left and to Ashton’s surprise, he had managed to keep Luke’s hands off him and his hands off Luke; something that had never happened before because he always had a weakness for Luke and whenever Luke and he were alone in the same room, they would always be all over each other. He glanced towards the kitchen and sighed. Michael would probably not want to keep going anymore, considering how long he had been waiting inside. Things were going so well, it was starting to get heated and they were getting to the best part but Luke’s arrival had ruined everything. How was he going to get Michael in that mood again? It took him so long and he had tried so hard. Taking a deep breath, he walked to the kitchen. He leaned against the doorframe and looked at Michael, who was sitting at the counter and reading a book that he had left there earlier that morning.

He walked to Michael and placed his hands on his shoulders. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Michael smiled and leaned into the touch as Ashton rubbed his shoulder blades soothingly with his thumbs. “Is he gone?”

“Yeah… do you want to continue?”

Michael looked at the time on his watch; it was almost five. “Huh… I really should get going. It’s late.”

“Ok,” Ashton mumbled before placing a kiss to Michael’s neck. “We’ll continue this another time.”

“Yeah, some other time,” Michael mumbled back as he pulled away from Ashton’s touches. “I’ll call and let you know.”

Ashton followed Michael as the other boy walked back to the living room and grabbed his backpack, that was still by the door, before turning to Ashton and shaking his hand. However, the older boy had completely taken Michael by surprise and had pulled onto his hand, crashing their chest’s together. He gulped and his breathing quickened when Ashton inched closer, until their lips were grazing. Dropping his backpack on the floor, Michael wrapped his arms around Ashton’s neck and kissed him back as Ashton pushed him against the wall and pressed himself against him. Ashton wanted to intensify things and thrust his hips against Michael but he restrained himself and concentrated on kissing him instead. None of them had planned that kiss but Ashton could tell that Michael was not doing it because he had to learn but was following his instinct and kissing him back. He smiled when Michael traced his lips with his tongue and before Michael could do anything, he pulled away, causing the other boy to groan at the loss.

Ashton took one of Michael’s hand into his and walked them back to the couch. Resuming their previous position, Ashton lay down on his back and pulled Michael on top of him. Unlike last time, Michael wasted no time to kiss Ashton; he vigorously moved his lips and closed his eyes as he let the heat coming from Ashton’s body engulf him. For the first time, Michael let his guts take over and he let go of the boundaries that were holding him back. He had to admit, it felt different and he did know how to put it but it felt wild, exciting even. A little whimper escaped Michael’s lips when Ashton bit on his lower lip before sucking on them. The older boy then trailed his hands down Michael’s back and again slipped them under Michael’s shirt, feeling his warm skin against his palm. It took a couple of seconds for Michael to catch up with Ashton and he mimicked his action, biting and sucking on the older boy’s lips before slipping his tongue past them and taking Ashton completely by surprise.

 


	6. Not Speaking The Truth Is Not Really Lying

Luke bobbed his head lightly to the song playing in his earphones and lightly bit the side of his lower lip as he watched random people passing him in the street. Why was he even in the streets at 06:30? The answer was quite simple. He knew it was Michael’s backpack back in Ashton’s living room, although there might be a possibility that someone else had the exact same one, and he just had to make sure. There were 99.9% chances of it being Michael’s and that was why he was still outside Ashton’s building instead of being at home. He looked at the time, almost one hour and forty-two minutes had passed and Michael had not come out yet. Assuming Michael was with Ashton, what were they doing during all that time? Michael was the most boring person, who did not like adventure, he knew and he would not have jumped directly to sex, that simply was not him.

That made the wheels in Luke’s brain turn even faster; if they were not having sex, what were they doing? Did Michael already come out and he had missed him because he was distracted or lost in his thoughts? No, he was not because he had his eyes on the entrance at all time, unless Michael had taken the emergency exit but then again, why would he do that? Finally, his wait came to an end when Michael’s stepped outside with a huge grin on his face and from where he was, even though it was starting to get dark, Luke could tell Michael’s face was flushed. He turned his face away when Michael shoved his hands in the pocket of his hoodie and started walking in the general direction that Luke was. He did not want to get caught; even though it would have been fun to see Michael’s reaction but he also did not want to look like he was stalking his best friend.

Luke pulled the hood of his jacket over the hat that he was wearing and discreetly, while keeping a good distance, he followed Michael to the train station. He felt like he was in a spy movie and he felt an unusual wave of excitement rush through him as he peered at Michael from behind a column. He leant against the said column and kept his eyes on Michael, who had seated himself on a bench and was playing with his hands while smiling at them. That was odd, Luke concluded, definitely odd. First, Michael did not let Luke know that he was at Ashton’s apartment, which was ridiculous because he was the one who had sent him there, then he stayed in there for more than one and a half hour and he was acting in a way that Luke knew Michael normally would not. He could not help but again wonder what had happened at Ashton’s apartment.

Although his initial plan was to see if it was really his best friend back there and then go home, Luke was curious to know what Michael had to say about it; thus, he made up his mind to follow the blonde back home. Luke let out a sigh of relief when a train arrived and Michael went in. He did the same, making sure he sat far behind the older boy but also made sure he had his eyes on him the entire time. Michael had his earphones on and was looking outside as the train brought them closer to their destination; so far, nothing else unfamiliar was happening. It was only Michael and his usual train ride back home. A few minutes passed and Michael got down and Luke intentionally used the other door as he kept following him. After the train, it was the habitual walk back home and Luke sighed as he kept walking at a reasonable distance behind the other boy.

Finally, Michael’s house was in sight and he had never been more relieved. He stopped following him two houses away as Michael stopped to look for his keys and disappear inside. Once he made sure the coast was clear, Luke made his way to the Clifford’s front door. However, before ringing the bell, he halted himself. It would look too suspicious if he went inside right after Michael got home; so, he waited. He waited for a long fifteen minutes before finally deciding to go in.

“Karen,” Luke smiled when the woman opened the door.

“Luke, what a pleasant surprise.”

“It’s good to see you too.”

“Come on in. You’re just in time for dinner, it’s almost ready.”

Luke took a deep breath. “I can tell by the amazing smell. Michael is in his room, I presume.”

“He just got back.”

“Did he now? That’s a first,” Luke laughed.

“Get him downstairs for dinner, will you? He said he’s not hungry.”

“Sure I will.” Smiling, Luke made his way up the stairs and to Michael’s bedroom. “Fuck me, do you ever do anything else other than staring at Calum’s picture?” he said the moment he closed the door.

Michael shifted on the bed and set the photo back on the nightstand; since he came back from Ashton’s apartment, he could not stop thinking about how it would feel to kiss Calum the way he had kissed Ashton. “Luke… you didn’t say you were coming.”

“Do I ever?”

“That’s right. What’s up?”

“Just the usual. What about you?”

“Nothing… I was in bed all day.”

Luke frowned. “Really? Your mom told me you just got back.”

“Yeah, well…” Michael scratched the back of his head. “I was in bed almost all day then I remembered that I had some stuffs to buy.”

“What did you buy?”

“What is this? An interrogation?” Michael laughed.

“Yes it is.”

“Sorry officer but I have not committed any crime.”

“Yes, you did. What about Ashton?”

Michael was taken aback by that question but he quickly recomposed himself. “What about him? I told you last time I saw him was the other day at the club. When was that again? I can’t remember.”

“Last night,” Luke nodded. “You said you left with him…”

“And I also told you I dropped him home before getting back here, myself.”

“Are you doing it? Are you gonna do it?”

“Do what, Luke? Sleep with the guy that you’ve been sleeping around with? No, I’m not gonna do that.”

“Who said anything about sex? You just need to let him teach you the basics, that’s all.”

“I’m twenty-one and I know the basics,” the older boy stated.

“Oh yeah? When was the last time you sucked a cock?”

Michael made a face at that comment.

“Aha! I thought so. Do you even know it feels like to touch one?”

“Yeah, last time I checked, I have a penis too,” Michael rolled his eyes.

“Other than yours, have you? Have you ever touched one, sucked one or had one in you?”

“Just because you have an over-active sex life, doesn’t mean I should have one too.”

“Have you ever said the word ‘cock’ in your life?”

“I don’t have to, it’s crude.”

“Have a go at it. Say the word.”

“No, I’m not saying that word,” Michael snorted.

“Say, ‘I wanna touch Ashton’s cock’, ‘I wanna suck Ashton’s…’”

Michael cut him off by throwing a pillow at his face. “Maybe you wanna do those things. I don’t.”

“Alright, you have a point. Say, ‘I wanna touch Calum’s cock’, ‘I wanna suck Calum’s cock’, ‘I wanna feel his cock in me’ and ‘I wanna bury my cock deep in Calum’s hole’.”

“Ugh… Luke stop. Stop using that word.”

“Why? Don’t you wanna do those things to Calum?”

“No, I don’t think like you.”

“And it never occurred to you that Calum may think like me and he wants to do those to you?”

“Calum’s not like that.”

“How do you know? How can you tell he’s not screwing around behind your back?”

“He’s not.”

“I can prove you that he is,” Luke argued. “If you’re not giving Calum dick and ass, he’s bound to look for them elsewhere.”

“Oh yeah? You can prove that? And how exactly are you going to do that?”

“I don’t know… I just know that I can.”

“I’ll believe that when you actually prove it. How about you try and get him to sleep with you? Or should I say fuck you, as you like to put it?”

“You want me to have sex with your dumb but hot boyfriend?”

“I want you to try because I know you’ll fail. Then you’ll come crawling back to me, saying that I was right all along.”

“It’s on, Michael. I accept your challenge but don’t bitch at me later because we fucked.”

“Cross my heart.”

“Good. Your mom sent me to get you downstairs for dinner.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Why? Because you can’t stop thinking about what happened at Ashton’s house?”

Michael sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you that I didn’t go to his house? I only dropped him in front of his building and then I came home.”

Luke nodded; if Michael was not ready to tell him yet, he would try again later, maybe after dinner. Besides, his whole spy thing had made him hungry and the smell coming from downstairs was not helping. “Come on, let’s go have dinner. Or I’ll tell your parents you’re fucking a guy called Ashton.”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

“Watch me. Karennn?” Luke said loudly as he exited Michael’s bedroom and made his way to the kitchen.

“Luke, stop, don’t you d…”

“Yes Luke?” Karen turned around and asked. “I see you’ve managed to get him downstairs.”

“Yeah, I have my ways.” Luke took a seat at the dining table and smiled. “Did I tell you about Ashton?”

Michael’s eyes widened. “Don’t you dare,” he whispered when neither Karen nor Daryl were paying attention.

“No, who is he?”

Smiling at Michael, Luke cleared his throat. “A new friend of me and Michael. He’s pretty cool. Isn’t he, Michael?”

“I guess…”

**Forty minutes later…**

“What the hell were you thinking?”

“What? Ashton’s my friend and that’s all I said.”

“Yeah but why did you have to mention him?”

“Why? Were you afraid your secrets would be out?” Luke wriggled his eyebrows.

“Secrets? I don’t have any secrets, especially not when it concerns Ashton.”

“That’s funny. Earlier I went to Ashton’s house and I swear I saw this backpack in his living room,” Luke said, pointing to Michael’s backpack that was on his chair.

“Yeah, that’s very funny. You immediately assumed it was mine. I’m not the only one who own a backpack like this.”

“I know but how many people do you think would write a big ‘M’ on the front of their backpack, especially this particular backpack?”

“I don’t know… many?”

“No, no one. Why can’t you just admit it? I’m your best friend.”

“Fine, I was there. So?”

“So? Tell me about it,” Luke grinned.

“There’s nothing to tell you about, really. We were just talking.”

“When I came, I couldn’t help but notice that your lips were pinker than usual and Ashton, even his lips were swollen.”

“What do you mean, I punched him in the mouth?”

“No dumbo, I mean you guys have been kissing.”

“We might have…”

“Fuck, what else did you guys do?” the younger boy asked excitedly.

**Next morning…**

Michael shook his head at the boy, who was snoring beside him, and stared at the screen of his laptop. He had logged in to his Facebook account, although he knew no one he knew would be online at that time because it was slightly before six on a Monday morning. However, a smile appeared on his lips when he received a video call.

“Hey Cal. Good morning,” Michael said in a croaky voice. “What are you doing up at this time?”

“Hey… I was hoping to catch you before you go to work. I haven’t heard from you at all this weekend. Even your phone was unreachable. Where were you?”

Michael raised an eyebrow; his phone had been okay all along. “Really? Sorry, I was just hanging out with Luke…”

“I missed you.”

“I did too, Babe,” Michael smiled.

“What?” Luke groaned when he heard voices beside him and grabbed a pillow to put over his head.

Calum frowned. “Who’s that naked person beside you?”

“This? This is Luke, who’s been chewing on my brain all weekend,” Michael laughed when Luke kicked his foot under the blanket.

“Yeah and guess what Calum? Even my ass is naked. Wanna see?” Luke pushed the blanket off his lower body and pushed his boxers down, exposing his ass before moving it in front of the camera.

“Stop it, Luke,” Michael shook his head and pulled the blanket over him to cover his nakedness.

“You stop it. I’m trying to sleep,” Luke protested.

“Go to sleep.” Turning his attention back to Calum, he smiled. “Sorry about him.”

“And sorry about this.” Luke smiled before ending the chat and pulling the laptop from Michael’s hands.

“What’s this childishness?”

“Sleep and let me sleep too.”

Michael was about to say something to him but brushed it off when he received a text from Calum, who told him he would call in the evening. Letting out a sigh, he again slid further down on the mattress and closed his eyes.

**Two days later…**

Ashton hummed low in his throat as he leant on the back of his trolley and slowly pushed it further down the aisle. He grabbed a couple of packets of chips and tossed them in as he kept walking. He had a rough day at work and all he wanted to do was to stay in front of his TV but he realised he had run out of a few essential things and had no choice than running to the stores. Michael had told him they only had nine days until Calum would be back and had also told him not to call him because he would do so himself but two days had passed and he still had not heard from the other boy. He was starting to think he had gone too far and scared Michael again. Sighing, he stopped to look at some chocolate, wondering which kind he would take when someone bumped into his back.

“Sorry,” the person mumbled.

Ashton turned around to also apologised but only smiled. “Hey. It’s you.”

Michael looked up to meet with Ashton’s smiling faces. “Oh, hi. What are you doing here?”

“Whatever people do at the stores, shoplifting. Just kidding,” Ashton laughed when the expression on Michael’s face changed. “I just needed to get a couple things,” he pointed to his trolley.

Michael glanced at the half-full trolley and laughed. “A couple of things? That’s way more than a couple of things.”

“Don’t you need a basket for these?” Ashton motioned to the things that Michael was cradling in his arms as he ran his fingers through his curly hair.

“I guess…” he also looked down at his hands; he was shopping with his mom and she had told him to get a jar of jam but he had grabbed some other things along the way.

“Wait,” Ashton said when he noticed an empty one in a corner. “There you go.”

“Thanks…”

“Are those pyjamas?”

Michael looked at the pants that he was wearing; he wished he had changed before leaving the house but he had felt too lazy to. “No… yes.”

Ashton laughed. “I guess I wasn’t the only one feeling lazy then. So, are you hear all by yourself, in your PJs?”

“Yeah… what did you think?”

“I was just asking… maybe Calum had showed up earlier than expected.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Because you haven’t call me in two days,” Ashton pointed out.

“No, he’s not back.”

“You know, if you don’t want to, you know…”

Taking a quick look around, Michael leant in and pressed his lips to Ashton’s, silencing him. Even though Ashton was not expecting it, he placed his hands on Michael’s hips and pulled him closer. The younger boy moved his lips slowly against Ashton’s and he almost dropped the basket that he was carrying when Ashton licked his lower lip but luckily, Ashton had placed a hand on his and held the basket. It was not a particularly long kiss as they pulled away shortly.

“I’ll call you tonight. I promise,” he smiled as he walked away.

“Who’s that?” Karen asked when noticed the grin on Michael’s face.

“Who? That? Oh, no one. I just bumped into him,” Michael said as he kept walking and avoiding his mother’s eyes.

 


	7. It's Nothing Complicated

Michael knocked on the wooden door and tapped his foot lightly as he waited for somebody to answer. He was having second thoughts already and maybe he should have been logical and called before making his way there but like the other times, he had decided to just show up, unannounced. What if Ashton was not home? After the first knock, he had done it twice already and no one had opened the door for him yet. He turned around to see if he was alone in the hallway because the other two times that he had visited Ashton, the other boy had happened to be behind him. Letting out a sigh, Michael adjusted his hat and turned on his heels; maybe it was time for him to get back home because it clearly looked like Ashton was not there.

“Hey,” Ashton smiled.

Again turning around, Michael looked at the boy, who had opened the door; the boy, who was shirtless and only had a beige towel wrapped low around his hips. “Did I disturb you? I mean… I’m sorry for showing up like this, without calling. Do you want me to come back later?”

Ashton laughed and shook his head, splashing the water from his wet hair everywhere. He took Michael’s hand and pulled him inside before closing the door again. “Of course not. I was only in the shower. I’m glad you came. I was just thinking about you,” he said and Michael raised an eyebrow. “I mean, I was thinking that we have little time left and so much to learn.”

“Actually… Calum is not coming now. I mean, he’ll be here in a month, not in a few days like planned.” As Michael finish his sentence, he let his eyes trail from the older boy’s face, down his chest to stop at his towel. Realising what he was doing, he quickly looked away and cleared his throat, hoping Ashton did not catch him ogling.

“Make yourself comfortable. I’m gonna wear some clothes, if you don’t mind,” Ashton smirked and walked to Michael, who gulped and licked his lips. “Unless…” Shaking his head, Ashton moved away. “Another part of the lesson, he’s your boyfriend, so it’s obvious that he’s gonna flirt with you. You have to flirt back.”

“Hmm… ok. I think you should go wear some clothes.”

“Why? Is it bothering you? Does it do something to you when you see me like this?” Ashton bit his lower lip and looked straight at him, with that playful smile.

Michael again cleared his throat; of course that was bothering him but he was not going to tell Ashton that. Besides, Ashton wanted him to flirt back. What should he say? He did not want to say just anything that made it look like he did not know how to flirt back because honestly, he was really bad at that. “No, it’s not bothering me Ashton. Why would it bother me? I actually like what I’m seeing.”

“Do you?” The smiled on Ashton’s lips never faltered as he again moved closer to him.

Taking a deep breath, Michael nodded. “You’re actually very handsome… hot?”

Ashton placed both his hands on Michael’s shoulders and leant closer, just so their lips were brushing against each other and whispered, “I’m going to wear some clothes.”

The moment Ashton pulled away and walked to his room, Michael realised he was breathing heavily. “Shit!” he mumbled to himself. “Get a grip of yourself, Michael. You can do this.” He told himself he could do it but could he really? There was that weird kind of energy in the room whenever Ashton was near and he could feel something weird inside; something that he guessed was the excitement of trying new things. The mere thought of doing those things with somebody who was not Calum sent chills down his spine. Although, he knew if he had to do them with someone else other than Calum, that person would be Ashton. Giving himself another confidence boost, he inhaled deeply and took his hat off. It was only Ashton, he could do it; besides, he was not as lame as Luke always said he was. He smiled when Ashton walked back into the living room, wearing some shorts and a tank top.

“So, where were we?”

“I don’t believe we have started yet,” Michael said with a playful smile.

Ashton hummed. “You’re right. How have you been?”

“Good. What about you?” Michael asked with a raised eyebrow; why was Ashton asking him that when they should start already? It was not like they were friends or anything.

“I wasn’t feeling fine in the morning but I’m better now.”

“We can cancel today if you’re not fine. I’ll come back some other day.”

“You’re not trying to run away again, are you?” Ashton asked with a laugh.

“Of course not. I’m just saying…”

“I’m fine Michael. Even if you don’t want to do something, we can always hang out, as friends.”

“That’s not the case.”

“You don’t want to be friends?”

“No… I mean… I do. If you’re not feeling fine, let’s just talk, as friends.”

“So, who was that woman you were with the other day at the store?” Ashton asked as he turned to face Michael.

“Woman? No, I was alone,” Michael said with a nervous laugh.

“No, I saw you talking to her.”

“Huh… it was no one. I just bumped into her.”

“Really? Because I saw you leaving with her as well.”

“That… she… that was my mom. I didn’t want to look uncool, shopping with my mom.”

“I’d have loved to go shopping with my mom but…”

“But?”

“We don’t get along well. Anyways,” he smiled. “That’s not important.”

“I should go and let you rest but… before that, I’ll make you some warm dinner.”

“You’ll make me dinner?” the older boy questioned. It was not like they were good friends because he still did not know much about Michael and they never talk about their private lives.

“Yes, I will. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Without letting Ashton say anything else, Michael got up, took his jacket off and strutted to the kitchen. He looked around himself and wondered what he should make. Noodle soup sounded like a good idea. As Michael opened a cabinet and another one after it, Ashton let out a little laugh.

“You know, it’d be easier for you if you tell me what you need,” he said when Michael opened a third cabinet.

Michael lifted his head and looked at Ashton, who was leaning against the door frame. “It’s ok. I’ve got this.”

He turned away from Ashton and opened the fridge, instantly scanning its contents. Walking to Michael, Ashton wrapped his arms around his waist from behind and took a couple of backward steps as he pulled the other away from the fridge and closed it. He then turned Michael around and pressed his index to his lips when Michael was about to protest before pressing the younger boy against the counter. Looking into Michael’s eyes, he trailed the index to his chin, down his neck and to the middle of his chest, where he stopped. Then, he slipped the finger between the little opening between two buttons of the younger boy’s button up shirt and wriggled it, in an attempt to test how far he could go. Of course, the ticklish sensation caused Michael to push his hand away but it was not in a bad way but rather because he was sensitive at that particular spot. Playfully, he brought it to his mouth and lightly bit on it.

Ashton leant in and, taking Michael by surprise, he pressed their lips together before pulling his finger out of the way. He hummed when the younger boy instinctively wrapped his arms around his neck and in turn, he tightened his grip around Michael’s waist. He was glad he did not feel the hesitation that he had felt the first time and Michael was eagerly kissing him back. He could tell that the other boy was finally letting go of the things that were holding him back because he had deepened the kiss and Ashton pulled away. He shook his head at Michael, who was looking at him with questioning eyes, and, taking his hand in his, he led them out of the kitchen and to his bedroom. A wave of apprehension washed over Michael as he neared what he supposed was Ashton’s bedroom; he was not ready to sleep with him yet. Well, he was not ready to sleep with Ashton at all. When he had made up his mind to learn things from the older boy, he intended to learn everything but sex was not included.

He did not want to sound pathetic but the only other guy bedrooms that he had ever been in that were not his were Luke’s and Calum’s and he honestly did not want to know what Ashton’s bedroom looked like. Although it was not a hard guess; it would probably be messy, with clothes scattered on the floor, just the typical kind. However, he was proven wrong when he stepped inside because unlike what he had thought, it was neat and well-organised. Never letting go, Ashton walked them to his bed and after taking a seat, he motioned for Michael to do the same. As opposed to what was happening in the kitchen, he could sense that Michael was uncomfortable.

“Have a seat, Mikey. I’m not that scary. I know what you’re thinking but that’s not gonna happen.”

Michael instantly let out a sigh of relief at that statement and he smiled as he took a seat next to Ashton. “I wasn’t thinking about anything.”

“Well, I’m glad you trust me. Yeah, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you,” he said and looked at their entwined fingers.

“What?”

“Hands, one of the most important things.”

“What?” Michael frowned; what was the purpose of that sentence? Heck, it did not even make sense.

“You know, you could use your hands when we’re kissing or when we’re doing any other things. It’s important to intensify things. You know… like caressing, touching, scratching…”

“Why would I want to scratch you?”

Ashton laughed. “No, not the mean kind of scratch but the kind that is gentle, where you’d graze the skin with your nails and stuffs. Or it could be harsh, for those who are into those kind of things but that doesn’t concern us. Ok so try something. Touch me.”

“Hmm… ok…” Looking at Ashton, Michael trailed the hand that was still in his upwards and lightly moved it up and down his bare arm; Ashton’s arm, that was a safe territory.

“My arm, that’s a good start.”

“But? I know there’s a but.”

“I want you to do more than innocent touching. Would you like to try a hand job today?”

“Hand job?” Michael’s eyes widened. “Today?”

“I know we have lots of time for that but if we do it already, we’ll have plenty of time to try and make it better.”

Ashton did have a point there; sooner or later, they were going to do that anyway. It might as well be that day. “Alright… I’m ready.”

“It’s not complicated. It’s just whatever you do to yourself, you do it to someone else. I believe that’s gonna be an easy lesson.”

“I guess…”

“You do touch yourself, right?” Ashton could not help but ask when he heard the uncertainty in Michael’s voice.

“I… no… I haven’t…” Although he did not want Ashton to know that, he also wanted to be honest because he did not want Ashton to expect anything.

“What do you do when you’re horny or have a boner?”

“Hey, don’t judge me.”

“I’m not. I just want to know.”

“I’ve never touch myself ok? If I’ve ever been in situations that required that, I’ll take a cold shower or wait for it to go away…”

“Fuck!” Ashton ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to figure out the best way to teach Michael that. Five minutes earlier, he had thought that would be the easiest lesson because in 2017, everybody touches themselves; at least that was what he thought. “Ok, we can do this.” Humming, he pulled his shirt off. “We’ll get there. For now, touch me again.”

Repeating his previous action, Michael placed his hand on Ashton’s arm and moved it gently; his hand might have been on Ashton’s arm but his eyes were on his bare chest. However, he did not move his hand there because he preferred to stick to the safe territory. Licking his lips, Ashton had placed a hand over Michael’s, causing the other boy’s eyes to land on it, and he took it before setting it on his chest. He then let go as he did not want to be the one guiding Michael, he wanted Michael to do things on his own accord. Michael stared at his hand for some long seconds, unable to decide what to do with it. Slowly, he moved his fingers in circles, to play with the little hair on Ashton’s chest, before slightly moving it to the side, to one of his nipples. Nonetheless, as he neared it, he sucked in a breath and moved his hand back to his sternum; his nipple did not seem like the right way to go.

Instead, he trailed it down to his stomach, his eyes following the same path, and he stopped at his belly button. All the while, Ashton was watching Michael’s face but he said or did nothing, he only let Michael explore whatever was unfamiliar to him on his own. Biting his lower lip, Michael wondered what he should do next. He tentatively let it slide lower and when he reached the elastic of Ashton’s shorts, he locked eyes with the other boy but before going further, he pulled his hand away.

“Why’d you stop? You were doing fine,” Ashton stated.

“I… hmm… I don’t know… can I touch you there?”

Ashton laughed. “You don’t have to ask me. Let your hands do what they want.” He paused for a moment and climbed on the bed. “Come here.”

Michael mimicked Ashton and knelt in the middle of the bed, facing the older boy. He placed his hands on Ashton’s shoulders and looked into his eyes as Ashton cupped his cheeks. Slowly, Ashton moved his hands to Michael’s neck and then to the little opening at the top of his shirt. With eyes still locked with the other boy, he popped open the buttons one by one as he leant in and connected their lips. While their lips moved gently against one another, Ashton pushed the shirt off Michael’s shoulders and buried his hand into his hair. He rubbed little soothing circles on his scalp and at the same time Michael placed his hand back onto Ashton’s chest. The hand gradually made its way down his stomach, until he laid it flat against Ashton’s penis.

 


	8. Hard But Not Hard

Michael chewed on his lower lip as he stared at the screen of his laptop; he had been on YouTube for the past twenty minutes but had not opened any videos yet. He ran his hand through his hair as he rolled on his left side on the bed and let out a little laugh. He still could not believe he had given Ashton a hand job; he, Michael, had given somebody a hand job. He could still clearly remember the faces Ashton had made when he had touched him; those images were imprinted in his memory and they kept replaying over and over again and no matter what he did, he could not get rid of them. He stretched his arms on his sides and closed his eyes, accidentally accepting the video call that he was receiving from Calum, a call he had not realised he was receiving.

“Michael?”

Michael’s eyes opened when he heard Calum’s voice and he propped himself on an elbow as he looked at the door before frowning.

“On the screen dummy,” Calum laughed. “What have you been up to?”

Michael smiled. “Nothing.”

“Really? Why are you smiling like that then?”

“Like what? I’m just smiling at you.”

“Oh, ok. What are you doing?”

“Nothing great. Just lying in bed. I wish you were here. We could lie in bed all day and do nothing.”

“Or we could lie in bed all day and do things,” Calum wriggled his eyebrows while grinning.

Things? Things like he was doing with Ashton? Michael mentally slapped himself; of course things like he was doing with Ashton. That was the reason why he was going to Ashton, so that he could learn those things and do them with Calum. He let his mind wonder off and imagined Calum and he doing those things but he could not because somehow, while thinking about Calum, the images would switch and Calum would be replaced by Ashton and he would be doing those things with Ashton.

“Hun, where are you lost?” Calum asked and waved at the screen.

“I was just thinking about what you just said. Yeah, we could do that too,” Michael said happily and rolled onto his side, falling off the bed in the process and causing Calum to laugh. “I’m ok.”

“You’re so adorable,” he shook his head as Michael got up and rubbed his head. “God, I miss having you around. I seriously can’t wait to get home and watch you be the beautiful mess that you are.”

“Beautiful mess?” Michael questioned. “I’m not a mess. I just fell on my butt and you’re laughing at me.”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about. You fell on your butt but you’re rubbing your head.”

“Well, I didn’t rub my butt because I was hoping you’d kiss it,” Michael said and Calum smirked. He instantly kicked himself because that was not what he had meant. He only wanted Calum to kiss his booboo better but Calum was thinking about other naughty things. “Ok, you can stop looking at my ass now.”

“What can I do?” Calum chuckled and licked his lips. “You’re only in your boxers and your ass is looking good from this angle.”

Calum was flirting with him and Ashton had told him when Calum would flirt with him, he should flirt back. “You can satisfy your eyes with this much for the time being… maybe there will be more when you come… without boxers.”

“Can’t I even get a sneak peek?” Calum bit his lower lip in anticipation; he had been dating Michael for two years and he had only seen Michael naked on three or four occasions.

Michael hooked two fingers in the elastic of his underwear and pulled it down a couple of inches and then laughed before letting go of it. “No…”

“Fuck! I really thought you were gonna do it.”

“Why do you want to unwrap your present before you get it?”

“Because it’s mine already.”

“Nuh huh… still have to wait.”

“You’re such a tease. Since when are you a tease? What’s happening to you in my absence? Are you staying with Luke too much?”

“You’re right, Luke has a hand in this. Blame him. I was told I was a boring boyfriend and I have to break out of that shell. I was also told to be naughty and sexual.”

“Whoever told you that, is great. You look even cuter when you’re trying to be naughty.”

“What you’ve seen is nothing…”

“Yeah? What haven’t I seen yet?”

“I told you, you have to be patient.”

“Seeing you like this is slowly murdering my patience. And this sucks because it’s late and I have this thing to finish before tomorrow. I gotta go soon.”

“What? Already?”

“I know… how about that sneak peek before I go.”

“What about me? Don’t I get anything?”

Calum got up so that his hips were aligned with the camera. Snickering, he pushed his pyjama pants down and revealed his penis. “Like what you see?”

“Yeah…” Michael’s cheeks turned pink when Calum took his penis into his hand. “Ok, I wanna see your face now.”

“You asked for it.”

“I know…”

“My turn now…”

Michael nodded and knelt on the mattress. Like earlier, he hooked his fingers under the elastic of his boxers but instead of pulling them down, he ended the call. He grabbed his phone and sent Calum a text: _‘I love you’_. Laughing, he rolled onto his back; he could not believe what had just happened. His behaviour had surprised him but it was in a good way. A few weeks ago, he would not have expected he would have done that. If Luke knew, he was going to be so proud of him and he laughed at that because knowing Luke, the younger boy would most probably be more proud of himself than he would be of Michael because all that happened thanks to him. Michael was grateful to him because he was proud of himself too because it all happened because of Luke. He had flirted with Calum and even asked him to show his penis. Thinking about how shamelessly Calum had pull his pants down and played with his penis made Michael blush. Slowly his mind drifted to the previous day and how he had held Ashton’s penis.

**~*~*~ Flashback ~*~*~**

After placing his hand on Ashton’s penis, he did not move it, he only rested it flat against it. His lips kept moving against Ashton’s and Ashton kept kissing him back; the only way he had reacted was by thrusting his hips against Michael’s hand. At that, Michael flinched and was about to pull away but Ashton placed his hand over his and made him squeeze it. There was heat coming through Ashton’s shorts and also from the hand on his and Michael felt something weird rushing through his veins, something he could not explain. Ashton pulled his hand away and placed it on the bulge that was forming in Michael’s blue jeans. Gently, he moved it up and down, hoping Michael would get the hint and do the same. Next he opened the zipper and slipped his hand inside. When Michael still did not mimic his action, he took Michael’s hand and put it inside his shorts and against his semi-hard dick. He then went on to again touch Michael but pulled away when the younger boy’s hand stayed still.

Ashton sighed. “You’re not working with me, Michael.”

“I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do.”

“Ok, we’ll try it again.” Ashton pulled his shorts and boxers off and waited Michael to do the same. When Michael stared at him, Ashton shook his head and went on to undress him himself. “Touch me now.”

“I can’t, it feels weird.”

“I’ll touch myself and you do the same to yourself.”

Ashton enclosed his fingers around his penis and moved it along the length as he looked at Michael’s face. Instead of copying Ashton’s actions, Michael only stared at him, not because he could not bring himself to jerk himself off but because he felt too embarrass to do it when Ashton’s eyes were on him. He knew the other boy was not going to judge him if he did something wrong but the mere idea of taking his penis in his hand was intimidating enough. Sighing again, Ashton let go of his dick and, taking hold of Michael’s hand, he wrapped it around the younger boy’s erection. Without pulling away, he moved both their hands along Michael’s length.

“See, it’s not so hard.”

“I guess,” Michael said through a gasp when Ashton squeezed his hand over his and that made him lose his balance but he held onto Ashton’s shoulder to steady himself.

“Now, you’re going to do it to me. Come here,” the older boy lay on his side and motioned for Michael to join him.

Once they were lying side by side and facing each other, Ashton pressed a quick kiss to Michael’s lips and took Michael’s penis into his hand, nodding at Michael to imitate him. With shaky fingers, Michael tentatively touch the length with the tips of his fingers and enclosed them around it when Ashton whispered into his ear. Ashton’s hand was moving slowly around him and he tried to do the same. He bit on his lower lips hard when Ashton rolled his thumb over the head of his penis, an action that he was not expecting.

**~*~*~ End Of Flashback ~*~*~**

Michael cursed as he bit on his lip a little too hard and instantly ran a finger over it to check if he was bleeding. He had not realised where his thought had gone until he had snapped out of it. He looked down when he felt that his boxers were feeling tighter than before and groaned when he realised he had a boner. He grabbed a pillow and pressed it against it; he could not believe that the mere thought of doing things with Ashton had his body reacting that way. All of a sudden, he felt embarrass about the situation, embarrass because he had an erection because of Ashton. A gasp escaped his lips; he had not realised he had done it but he had snaked a hand under the pillow and pressed it to his penis.

“Fuck!”

Tossing the pillow aside, Michael looked at his door; he knew he was being silly because he was home alone and there was no one who would walk in on him. Sucking his bottom lip between his teeth, he pushed his boxers down his thigh and down his legs. He held them in his hand and looked at them, wondering what Ashton would have done. Shrugging, he threw them on the floor, far away from the bed before turning his eyes to his lap. He took a deep breath and touched the head with his index and then then rest of his fingers, hissing when his cold fingers made contact with the sensitive head. As the seconds passed, he felt more confident and went on to wrap his fingers around the length. He moved his hand slowly up and down, as he tried to recall how Ashton had done it. Ashton was right, it was nothing complicated; in fact, it felt good. Just like Ashton had done, he rolled his thumb over the head, at least tried to do it as good as possible, and he moaned out loud. Michael closed his eyes as his other hand trailed down his stomach and lower.

He went back to pump the length as he took his balls in his other hand and gently rubbed them. He squeezed them one by one before adding a little twist of his own and pressing them together. Tilting his head backward, he breathed through his parted lips as both his hands attempted to pleasure him. Although his hands were not as experienced as Ashton’s, they were still doing things to him; he was sweating, his heart was beating faster, his breathing had quickened and he sped up the movement of his fist. He licked his lips and involuntarily thrust upward. Instantly, he cursed; that action did something to him inside and he repeated it again and again. Michael squeezed his eyes tighter and curled his toes into the bedsheet as he came onto his stomach. He let go of his balls but kept pumping on his penis slowly and he stayed like that, on the bed, as he tried to catch his breath. Long minutes had passed and he was still in that same position, with his legs slightly parted and his hand on his dick.

“Oh my god,” Luke exclaimed from the doorway.

Michael quickly opened his eyes and straightened himself as he stared at Luke. Suddenly, he felt self-conscious about his nudity. Without saying anything, he rushed out the door and went to the bathroom. He leant against the sink and cursed while he looked at his reflection; his skin was flushed, his hair was sticking out in all directions and he was covered in sweat. As his eyes trailed lower, he noticed the cum stain on his stomach and made a face. He grabbed a damp towel from the basket to wipe himself but scrunched his nose and stepped in the shower instead. Since he already had a shower earlier that day, he only rinsed himself before looking at himself in the mirror again. Luke was in his room, how was he going to face him? The younger boy probably had hundreds of questions he wanted to ask but Michael was not ready to answer any of them. He wrapped a towel around his hips and exited the bathroom; he figured sooner or later he would have to get back to his room and Luke would still be there because he would not be going anywhere without answers.

“I’m all ears,” Luke grinned the moment Michael stepped into the room.

“Well, hello? How are you?” Michael asked as he grabbed a clean pair of boxers from his closet.

“I’m good and I’m guessing you’re doing great.”

“How did you get in? There’s no one home.”

“I rang like five times and I was about to leave when I saw your window open and I could hear music. I came in using the spare key that was under the doormat.”

“Oh I see.”

“Don’t tell me you were jerking off while listening to Taylor Swift.”

Michael had been too lost in his thoughts that he had forgotten he had music on. “What’s wrong with Taylor Swift? And I was not jerking off.”

“Then, you magically had cum over your stomach? Why were you naked then? And why did you have a hand around your cock? Why did you run away then? It’s not like I’ve never seen you naked,” Luke raised an eyebrow.

“I… huh… can you shut up?”

“I’m your best friend, Michael. It’s ok to share our masturbation stories.”

“I don’t have any masturbation stories to tell you,” the older boy stated.

“So, how did it happen? What did Ashton show you? Did he touch your cock? Did you touch his cock?”

“Oh, shut up,” Michael looked down, his face heating up at the mention of that. “You know what I think about that word. Stop saying it.”

“If you say the word once, I’ll stop saying it.”

“Cock.”

“Now that you’re familiar with it, you don’t have to feel anything when I say it. So, how was Ashton’s cock?”

“Damn it, Luke! Fine, it was good… weird at first then it was alright. I don’t even know if I did it right.”

“I’m sure you did. Now that you’re past those boundaries, we can go out every Friday night and we can hook you up with some hot guys.”

“I told you I’m faithful to Calum.”

“What are you doing with Ashton then?”

“You sent me to him to learn stuffs and that’s what I’m doing. There’s nothing more between us.”

“Aren’t you going to have sex with him?”

“No way, I’m only going to do that with Calum.”

“But I still think Calum does it behind your back.”

Michael groaned. “Not with that again.”

“Well, guess what? I’m going to Melbourne next week. I’ll be there for a few days.”

“So?”

“Remember our bet? Maybe I’ll drop by to see Calum.”

“You’re gonna fail and I’ll be here waiting to laugh at you.”

“Please, allow me to prove you wrong.”

“Oh, good luck with that, you’ll need it.”

Luke crossed his arms in a challenging way. “Wait for it, Michael. If I win, you have sex with Ashton.”

“No, never…”

“As part of you learning things, nothing else.”

“I’m not sleeping with Ashton because you’re not going to win.”

 


	9. Last Lesson...

Ashton tilted his backward and ran his fingers through his hair as he let the water wash the shampoo off. Turning around, he leant forward and rested his elbows against the wall while he let the water hit against the back of his head and trail down his body. He sighed as he recalled what had happened the previous night. Ever since Michael had been coming over for his lessons, Ashton had not hooked up with anybody and he had realised that a few nights ago; thus, he had decided to go to the bar and find himself somebody. He had found himself that cute brunette with pretty green eyes and had ended up making out in the guy’s car. However, things had not gone very well afterward because he could not bring himself to get an erection. He had brushed it off, thinking the guy was not turning him on but then it happened again two nights ago and then the previous night as well. He could not even blame it on him not being turned on by the guy of the night before because that guy was hot and definitely his type.

So, he figured something else was the problem, the bug was with him. Stepping out of the shower, he patted himself dry and took a look at himself in the mirror; he realised he looked worried. Of course he was, especially after googling his condition. Although it said that it was not uncommon for guys to suffer from an erectile dysfunction, the name he found out it was called, it still scared him. What if he never got an erection ever again? Ashton shivered at the thought and walked back to his room; one thing was for sure, he made up his mind that he was not going to be with anyone until he was sure, certain, that he had gotten rid of that problem. He pulled on an extra-large sweater and some loose pants and settled on the floor before doing a set of ten push-ups because he read online that physical exercise was important to get rid of that problem. Then he did what he usually did whenever something bothered him; he grabbed a big bowl of vanilla ice-cream, dumped some marshmallows in it, added some melted chocolate and a generous amount of rainbow sprinkles and began stuffing his face.

He took a spoonful and walked to the door with the spoon when he heard a knock. “Mowcul…” he managed to say through a mouthful.

Michael raised an eyebrow at him and laughed. “Did you say Michael?”

“Yes,” Ashton chuckled as the dessert melted in his mouth. “That’s your name, right?

“Yeah, but that’s not how it sounded. Can I come in?”

“Yeah, of course.” The older boy stepped aside to let him pass and then followed him inside after closing the door. “Sorry about the mess, I wasn’t expecting anyone,” he said when Michael looked at his unusually messy living room and then at him.

“That’s alright. I should have called before showing up.”

“I’m not surprised. I’m used to it; you always just show up.”

Michael let out a little embarrassed laugh. “I don’t mean to. It just happens.”

“It’s cool.”

“Are you going through a bad breakup?” he asked when he took a seat on the couch and his eyes landed on the half empty bowl of ice-cream.

“No, I just felt like it. Would you like to have some?” Ashton pushed the bowl in his direction and, sitting beside him, he handed him the spoon.

“No, I don’t want to cut down your share because you looked like you were having fun.”

‘Fun,’ Ashton laughed mentally. He was doing the exact opposite of having fun but he could not tell Michael that. “It’s fine, it’s my second bowl anyway. Have some, don’t be shy.”

Smiling, Michael took the spoon and scraped a tiny bit of the ice-cream with the tip before bringing it to his lips. He tapped his tongue and when he realised it tasted good, he pulled the bowl closer and took a few more scoops. It had been a week since his last lesson with the older boy and during that time, Michael had not seen or called Ashton because he felt too embarrass as Luke had walked in on him; that was something he was never going to forget, ever. He looked at the melting dessert and wondered how he should start a conversation with Ashton, just so things did not start getting awkward again.

Looking up, he saw Ashton’s eyes on him. “What?”

Ashton smiled and ran his hand through his long curly hair. “Nothing… you look like you’re having fun.”

“This is nice. Hmm… so… I was wondering what I have to learn next.”

Next? Ashton swallowed. He had completely forgotten that part when he started his no-hook-up plan. “Huh… blowjob.”

“Ok,” Michael nodded. He had guessed it right; after the hand job, came the blowjob. “Blowjob, the last lesson.”

“Last lesson? What about what comes after?”

“I guess I’ll figure that part out by myself.”

“Does that mean I won’t see you again?”

Michael laughed. “Of course you will. I’ll have to come over to make sure I’m doing everything right. Besides, you’re my friend, right? We’ll meet again.”

“Cool…” Ashton chewed on the inner side of his cheek as he thought about it. “Do you mind if we just hang out as friends today?” he asked as he looked at the bowl of ice-cream and thought about his boner problem; he was not sure he wanted to face a fourth embarrassing situation.

“Why?”

“I don’t know… since we won’t be seeing each other as often, I guess…”

“Aww… you’re feeling emotional already?” Michael teased and poked Ashton in the arm.

“Shut up… come on, it’ll be fun. Besides, I still don’t know much about you.”

“Yeah, you’re right and I don’t know anything about you.”

“I’m ready to tell you anything you want to know,” the older boy smiled; that was a much better option. As long as they were busy talking, they would keep their hands and other body parts to themselves and his problem would be avoided.

“So, no breakup? Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Nope. I’m not very good at long term relationships. My last one ended like five months ago and I haven’t really dated anyone since. Honestly speaking, I think I prefer to live life in singular mode because that way, I have the freedom to do what I want, when I want and with whoever I want. What about you? What do you like to do, other than shopping with your mom?”

“That’s easy. Eat, play video games and sleep. If it was up to me, I’ll do that all day, every day, for the rest of my life.”

“And fucking. Add fucking to it.”

“Yeah, you had to go and ruin the normal conversation that we were having,” Michael made a face and, taking some melted ice-cream on the spoon, he rubbed it onto Ashton’s cheek.

“Stop, I already showered,” Ashton said and moved away, before reaching for the bowl but Michael pulled it out of his reach. Raising an eyebrow, Ashton smirked as he moved closer to Michael and without warning, he rubbed his cheek against Michael’s.

“Stopppp…” Michael whined as he pressed his hand flat against Ashton’s chest, in an attempt to push him off.

“Is that so?”

The older boy pulled back a little and looked at Michael’s face. Michael looked back at Ashton; at his lips that were slightly parted and then into his eyes. He stared into Michael’s eyes as Michael stared right back into his eyes. Neither of them intended to but they both leant forward and closed the gap between them before pressing their lips together. Instinctively, Michael enclosed his arms around Ashton’s neck and tilting his head to the side, he deepened the kiss. He then remembered what Ashton had said about using hands and he trailed one of his hand to the back of the older boy’s head, to lace it through his hair before moving the other to the side of Ashton’s neck and grazed his skin with the back of his fingers. Ashton smiled into the kiss and wrapped his arms around Michael’s waist, to pull him into his lap. That sudden action caused Michael to pull away from the kiss and gasp and Ashton connected his lips to his neck instead.

He placed a series of open-mouthed kisses from his ear to his collarbone and then back up before lightly sucking on a spot below Michael’s ear. Locking his arms around Ashton’s head, Michael sucked his bottom lips between his teeth and tilted his head to the side so that the older boy had more access to his neck. He closed his eyes and let his fingers play with Ashton’s curls while the other boy kept kissing his neck and his hands were moving up and down his back. Ashton slid a hand to Michael’s hip and then placed it on Michael’s crotch, causing Michael to involuntarily thrust against his palm. The older boy moved his hand in a circular motion and Michael let out a low gasp in his ear, a gasp that was like a sound of pure delight to Ashton. He pulled back a little and as he rested his forehead against Michael’s, he looked into his eyes but Michael again closed his eyes when the intensity of their stares was getting too much.

His hips, which had not stopped moving against Ashton’s hand, stilled and Michael bit his lip as he got off Ashton. He would not have but his ass was right above Ashton’s penis and as the other boy grew harder, it felt awkward for him to keep sitting there. Ashton was about to ask him what was wrong but then caught sight of what was happening in his sweatpants. He had an erection, he had a fucking erection, and he was so happy about it. His penis was not broken and all of his worries instantly disappeared.

“Let’s take this to the bedroom. Next lesson, blow job,” Ashton grinned.

“I thought you just wanted to hang out as friends.”

“I did but what about these?” he pointed to their pants. “We can’t just let them go to waste.”

“Ok, let’s do this,” Michael nodded; before showing up at Ashton’s apartment, he had already readied himself mentally for a blow job, which he had guessed would come next and last.

When they reached the bedroom, they both undressed and Michael climbed on the bed when Ashton instructed him to. “This lesson is going to be a little different because I’m going to do it on you first and then you try to repeat it on me. It can be distracting but try to pay attention. Watch me and feel what I’m doing.”

“Ok,” Michael nodded and propped himself on his elbows.

Ashton knelt beside Michael and pumped his erection a few times as he watched Michael’s face. He wetted his lips and without breaking the eye contact, he leant closer. Slowly, he enclosed his lips around the head, just so he knew Michael was still paying attention, and then slid his mouth along the length. He hollowed his cheeks and his head moved up and down at a steady pace. Restraining himself from making any sound, Michael dropped himself backward and closed his eyes; if he had thought a hand job felt good, he had to say a blow job was so much better. Ashton was right; it was distracting, very distracting, and he could not keep his eyes on the older boy, not when he had his mouth on his penis. Weird, unexplainable things were happening to his body and Michael wanted to move but he willed his body to stay still. When Ashton had realised that Michael was no longer paying attention, he pulled away with a slurping sound, causing Michael to open his eyes.

“You’re not looking at me.”

“I am,” Michael mumbled, even though he was not.

“Ok, enough sleeping. Your turn,” Ashton laughed as he settled on his back next to the other boy.

His turn? Already? He wanted to protest because Ashton felt so good around him and he wanted him to keep going. Yeah, but he could not say that. He took a deep breath and settled beside Ashton, wishing he had kept his eyes open and had seen what Ashton had done. With a shaky hand, he held the older boy’s penis and bent forward to take it into his mouth. He moved his mouth until he was about halfway along the length and then moved back to look at Ashton, hoping he was doing the right thing.

“It’s alright. You’re doing good, keep going.”

Feeling slightly more confident, he again put it into his mouth and sucked on it as he bobbed his head into Ashton’s lap. When the head of Ashton’s penis touched the back of his throat, Michael pulled away and couch a little.

“Hey, you don’t have to take it all the way. Just as much as you can handle,” he said as he ruffled Michael’s hair. “If you can’t take it all the way, you can also pump the base at the same time.”

Nodding, Michael did as he was told and moved his hand slightly at the base while he sucked on the other half. It was not as difficult as he had thought it would be and in his eyes, he was doing okay; he only hope Ashton was feeling as good as he had felt.

“Another trick, you could roll your tongue over the head,” Ashton said and Michael wriggled his tongue against the head. “It’s not called rolling the tongue but you can do that too. See, you’re a natural. Add some ball teasing every now and then and you’re all good. Now, I’ll just shut up and let you…”

Michael wriggled his tongue again before taking the erection in. As Ashton had mentioned, he moved his free hand to his balls but accidentally grazed Ashton’s inner thigh in the process, causing the older boy to hiss. He wondered if it was a good thing and did it again, earning the same reaction from Ashton. Smiling around the other boy’s dick, Michael pulled his mouth away and pumped him harder as he occasionally stopped to tease the head with his thumb while his other hand was caressing his balls. Ashton laced his fingers through Michael’s hair and guided his mouth back to his penis, urging him to suck him again, something that Michael did not refused. He sucked him hard and let go of Ashton’s balls to place his hand on his hip as Ashton started to thrust into his mouth. A few minutes later, the older boy emptied himself into his mouth and Michael made a face at the weird taste. Looking at Ashton, who was panting and had his eyes closed, Michael patted his knees and pointed to his mouth.

Ashton looked at him, wondering what to say. “Huh… you can swallow it,” he said and bit his lip when he realised Michael did not look like he wanted to swallow his cum. “Or you can just spit it out.” The moment that left his mouth, Michael rushed to the bathroom.

Michael walked back into the room, looking unsure of what he should do next. “Now what?”

“My turn.”

Ashton pulled him higher up on the mattress and, parting his legs, he settled between them after placing a pillow under his lower back. The other boy swallowed; he could feel his cheeks turning pink from embarrassment due to the position they were in. He felt exposed.

“Relax.”

Ashton again licked his lips before taking Michael in. He expertly moved his head up and down, taking the other boy’s penis in and out in the process. Pulling back, he teased the head with his tongue then ran it along the underside, all the way to his balls, which he took into his mouth, one by one while sucking on them. At the same time, he pumped the length, alternating the pressure his fist was exerting around his dick and his mouth around his testicles. Lifting his eyes, Ashton glanced at Michael’s face; he had his eyes closed, his lips were parted and there was that little frown that would appear on his forehead every time Ashton would lick the head of his penis. Ashton pulled back and spat on the head before taking it back into his mouth. He moved a hand to Michael’s stomach and let his fingers graze his skin, causing Michael to wriggle under him. Although he wanted to restrain himself, Michael could not help but arched his back and thrust his hips upward.

A wave of excitement rushed through him and he allowed his body to take control and he continuously moved his hips. But apparently he was doing it too fast because Ashton had placed a hand on his hip to steady him. Ashton again pulled back to spit behind Michael’s balls and then went back to suck on his cock. With his middle finger, he smudged the saliva and circled Michael’s hole. Gently, he pushed the digit inside and moved it around as his mouth kept doing its job. Michael arched his back and fisted the bedsheet as he came into Ashton’s mouth. After making sure he got everything out, Ashton retrieved his finger and pulled away as he swallowed. Michael ran his hand over his forehead to wipe the sweat as he tried to even out his breathing.

“I’m proud of you, you did good,” Ashton smiled and settled beside Michael.

“I hope you’re not just saying that to make me feel good.”

“Of course not. I would never lie.”

“Ok, I believe you,” Michael smiled. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, anything.”

“Doesn’t it feel weird… swallowing that?”

Ashton laughed. “Nope, I guess if you get used to it, it doesn’t feel weird anymore. Besides, it’s a matter of choice. You don’t have to swallow if you don’t want to. You can always pull away right before the other person cums.”

“So, you’re used to it. Like, you’ve been with many guys?”

“Yeah, you can say that.”

Michael bit his lips. “And Luke? Did you guys date or something?”

Ashton again laughed. “No… we met in high school. My school and his school had that thing going to raise money for sick kids. We met and we instantly bonded. Honestly, we had sex in the bathroom. We’ve been good friends since and we hook up often but it’s nothing serious.”

“I went to the same school as Luke but I don’t remember you.”

The older boy looked at Michael; the first time Michael had come to his house, he was all shy and embarrassed but at that moment, he was sitting in his bed naked and asking him questions. “What about you? Other than Calum, have you dated anybody else?”

“No… I was waiting for the right one. I know it sounds lame but that’s the truth.”

“And you’ve found him?”

“I guess…”

“So, last lesson, huh? When do I get to see you again?”

“I don’t know. I’ll call you.”

“Or maybe you’ll just show up here unannounced, like you always do,” Ashton smiled. “I’ll miss you. It was nice hanging out with you.”

Michael kicked him hard in the knee. “I’m not leaving and even when I will later, I’ll come back. You’re my friend.”

“I know… I was just saying… because it fitted there.”

Michael turned his head to the side and looked at Ashton; he knew he was going to miss it too, the lessons, but mostly Ashton.

 


	10. Out Of Character

“You’re still so funny,” Michael laughed.

“It’s good to know I can still make you laugh,” Calum smiled back.

“You look happy, different, like you’re… I don’t know how to explain it.”

“I just had a good night and I’ll be seeing you soon. I’ve so many things to tell you about. Boy, I miss you.”

“Just a couple of weeks more, then you’ll be here.”

“Yeah, the way you tease me lately makes me so impatient to see you, to be with you.”

“I honestly can’t wait to see you, to hug you and hold you close.”

“Yeah, that and also to put my hand on…” Calum licked his lips as he looked at Michael on the screen.

“You remember what you asked me last time?”

“Huh… I asked you lots of things.”

Michael bit on his lower lip and spoke slowly. “You asked me for a sneak peek.”

“No way,” Calum stared at the screen. “Okay, you’re messing with me again. For a moment, you actually got me.”

“What if I’m not kidding? What if I wanted to…”

“Fuck… I can’t believe I’m hearing that. This has to be some kind of dream.”

“This is not a dream and you have no idea what else is to come.”

“Damn it, Michael! You’re like making it so hard for me to be away.”

“Then don’t be. Come home.”

“I will… if you, you know, give me that sneak peek you were talking about,” Calum wriggled his eyebrows.

“Okay,” Michael said in an almost inaudible whisper. Licking his lips, he locked eyes with Calum, on the screen, and slowly undid the first few buttons of his flannel pyjama shirt. A small smile appeared at the corner of his lips as he pushed the shirt to the side to reveal his nipple before straightening it back. “There. Now come home.”

“That’s it? That’s the big sneak peek you were talking about? Come on, this was nothing.”

“What do you wanna see?”

“Ooh, that’s a good question,” the brunette licked his lips. “I want to see something that is lower than your nipple.”

“Alright,” Michael got up, lifted his shirt, and pointed to his bellybutton as he exposed his stomach. “Is this better?” Laughing, he dropped himself back on his chair.

“You fucking tease. Two years I’m gone and this happened. You’ve turned into that completely different person.”

“Is it bad?”

“Fuck no. Luke was right. He did tell me to expect some changes.”

“You met Luke?”

“Yeah, yesterday… I bumped into him at the mall. But enough about it. You are what I’m interested in. That shirt needs to go,” Calum said as he leant closer to the screen. “Get on the bed, will you?”

“Ok, what else?” Michael asked as he walked to the bed with the laptop and set it in the middle before sitting cross-leg in front of it.

“Undress…”

“You first.”

Calum set his laptop on the mattress in front of him, revealing that he was only in his boxers and had an old tee on. Without wasting time, he pulled the shirt over his head and, tossing it away, he pulled his boxers off as well.

Michael sucked in a breath at the sight; his cheeks were warming and he needed to look away.

“Don’t look away,” the brunette said before the other boy could do so. “Your turn.” Michael only looked at him and Calum again spoke. “It’s ok. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Nodding, he got off the bed and moved away from the screen, to quickly undress himself. He then reappeared with nothing on, except for his hand that was hiding his penis. “Now what?”

“Fuck, this is really happening. I don’t care if you’re hiding yourself with your hand but this is just perfect.”

Michael let out a little laugh at that. Calum was right; he was a different person. Two months ago, he would not have had the courage to say those things to Calum, or hell, get naked in front of him, in a video chat. He outdid himself and he was proud of it; although, most of the credits went to Ashton because without him, Michael would still be… Michael. Calum was talking to him and somehow, his eyes stayed glued to the other boy’s lips. He had never realised how enticing it was to watch Calum’s lips move when the boy talked or when he was simply biting on them or sucking his lower lip between his teeth. Michael directed his gaze elsewhere when a hiss escaped Calum’s lips and he noticed his boyfriend had his fingers wrapped around his penis. Despite wanting to look away, he found himself staring at Calum’s fist going up and down in his lap and he bit his lips when another hiss left Calum’s mouth.

“Touch yourself…” Calum mumbled.

The moment those words left Calum’s mouth, Michael exposed himself and did as he was told. He could not help but laugh when Calum cursed loudly. After all, he could understand Calum’s reaction since it was the first time they were getting on that level of intimacy. As a tiny moan escaped his lips, he glanced at the door, which was not locked; he had never had the need to lock his door before and he hoped he was not being too loud. After his last lesson with Ashton, he had thought about so many things to do with his boyfriend but cybersex was definitely not one of them and yet he was doing it. Ten minutes into it, the movements of his hand had sped up, Calum was muttering naughty things to him and he could feel that he was close. He did not know if he could hold himself any longer, especially after what happened next; Calum slipped two fingers in him and was quickly moving them in and out. Suddenly, the thought of Ashton’s finger in him popped in his head and Michael came with a grunt.

Michael closed his eyes and panted as he tried to catch his breath. Shortly after, when he looked back up, Calum was wiping his hand in a bunch of tissues and he decided to do the same. “That was a thrilling experience.”

“Are you kidding? Remind me why we haven’t done that before?”

“Because I was such a loser and I was too scared to try anything.”

“Shut up! You’re perfect the way you are. I can’t…”

“Shit!” Michael cursed when he heard a beep and the screen went blank; he had completely forgotten to charge his laptop. Grabbing his phone, he sent an ‘I love you’ to Calum. As he grabbed his underwear, he thought about what had happened. What the fuck was wrong with him? Everything was going on fine, then why did he have to think about Ashton at the last minute? That was a question he did not want to know the answer to and instead, he climbed into his bed to get some sleep.

**Somewhere at the club…**

Ashton down the rest of his drink and smiled when the guy beside him kissed his neck and whispered something about, ‘my car?’. His name was Christopher, or Christian, or something like that and he was hot. He had met him less than an hour ago but things were flowing between them, he was horny and it was all fitting together. Smiling, Ashton got feet and allowed Chris to drag him out of the club. The moment they were in the backseat, Chris straddled Ashton and the next second, they were already kissing. Things escalated pretty quickly from there as Chris’ mouth trailed to his neck and his hand moved to undo his jeans. Ashton cursed when the other boy cupped his penis and he closed his eyes as he bit his lips. Something was wrong; despite wanting to have sex with that beautiful stranger, Ashton could not bring himself to do so.

“Wait!” he said as he held the other boy’s hand.

“What?”

“I-I’m sorry. I’ve to go,” Ashton sighed and straightened his clothes. He got out of the car and looked around himself before walking away. Why could he not just fuck a guy when he knew he did not have a problem anymore? Why would he always think about Michael whenever he was with someone else? Instinctively, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled Michael’s number. Why was he even calling Michael? He stared at the screen and wanted to hang up but his fingers refused to press that red button. Taking a deep breath, he finally gathered the courage to do it but it was too late because Michael had already answered.

“Ashton?”

“Oh hey… hi… are you sleeping?”

“Was about to, why?”

“No, nothing. I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out. No, of course not, it’s too late. I shouldn’t have called.”

“Ashton, you’re acting weird. Are you okay?”

 _‘When you’re not with me? No, I’m not okay,’_ he shook head. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said into the device.

“Okay, if you say so.”

“Yeah, maybe I should hang up and let you sleep.”

“Actually, I’m not that sleepy anymore. You know what? What don’t you come over and we’ll chat?”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll text you the address.”

“Ok. I’ll be there soon.”

The moment Ashton hang up, Michael sighed and then looked at the clock that showed that it was eleven twenty-seven. What was he thinking, inviting Ashton over at that time? It was too late for any regrets because what had been done had been done and he would just have to deal with it. He sent him another text telling to give him a call when he reached since he did not want to disturb his parents or more precisely, he did not want his parents to know there was a young man visiting him in the middle of the night. Michael looked around to make sure his room was neat, which it was, and looked down at himself before sniffing his shirt. He had worn the same one to bed the previous night and he thought it stunk. He quickly wore a clean one and paced back and forth as he occasionally glanced at the clock. Ashton has said he would be there soon but how soon was soon? Maybe Ashton was probably messing with him or had changed his mind because twenty minutes had passed and there was still no sign of him.

Michael shrugged and climbed into his bed again, only to get back up as his phone buzzed. Glancing in the hallway to make sure it was clear, he quickly walked down the stairs and quietly opened the door. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Ashton smiled back.

“I thought you changed your mind. Come in,” he whispered.

“Why are we whispering?”

“Shh,” Michael frowned and pressed his palm to Ashton’s mouth. “My parents are sleeping.”

“You didn’t tell me you lived with your parents,” the older boy murmured and followed Michael upstairs.

“You never asked. This is my room,” Michael said and sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes never leaving Ashton as he looked at the room.

“Nice. Is this Calum?” he pointed to a picture on the desk.

“Yeah,” Michael laughed nervously.

“He’s cute.”

“I know.”

“You’re not going to be awkward again, are you?”

“No. Stop looking around, you’re not going to find anything interesting.”

“You’re right. The only interesting thing in this room is you,” Ashton turned around and looked straight into Michael’s eyes. “A piece of art, really.”

“Stop,” Michael laughed. “You know those things don’t work on me, right?”

“But it’s true. You’re perfect from every angle.”

“Are you drunk?”

“No, I just had one drink. Besides, a drunk man always speaks the truth but I’m not drunk. I mean it. You’re just beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Michael laughed and threw a pillow at him before patting the bed beside him. “Get your ass here.”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

“So?”

“What?”

“I don’t know. You were talking weird on the phone earlier.”

“Was I?” Ashton scrunched his nose before letting out a little laugh.

Ashton’s laugh, Michael had missed that. “I thought you’d never call me again after our last lesson.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m such a weirdo and you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me?”

“I don’t mind weird,” he mumbled and pushed a strand of hair out of Michael’s eyes.

Michael looked at Ashton’s face that was so close and he had almost forgotten how it felt like to have the other boy so close to him. He did not know what had taken over him but he had closed the distance between them and had pressed their lips together, completely taking Ashton by surprise. It was not a particularly long kiss because he pulled back shortly after to rest their foreheads together and look into the other boy’s eyes. Ashton mumbled something before dropping himself backward and pulling Michael on top of him. Smiling, he connected his mouth to Ashton’s chin and moved it down to the middle of his neck, to nibble on his skin. As he tugged on the skin, a gasp escaped Ashton’s lips and Michael pulled back to look at him. He let his eyes fall on Ashton’s parted lips and gradually inched closer to take them between his. Breaking the kiss momentarily, Ashton set Michael on his back, higher up on the bed, and settled between his legs before claiming his lips again.

When the need for air was required, Ashton pulled away and one of his hand made his way between them, to the first button of Michael’s pyjama shirt. However, he had not opened it because he did not know how far Michael would allow things to go but his doubts were cleared when Michael mumbled a ‘keep going’. Hoisting himself up, he undid the buttons one by one, while keeping his eyes on Michael’s face, before exposing his chest and placing a kiss to the middle of it. Ashton smiled when Michael tugged on his tee to pull it off and he was amazed because once his shirt was on the floor, Michael was already opening his jeans. It was only a matter of second before Michael slipped his hand into the older boy’s boxers and cupped his penis. Ashton was hovering above him while supporting himself on his arms, his lips were parted, his eyes were close and Michael swore that was an image he would never be able to get out of his mind.

**Next morning…**

Ashton swallowed as he turned to the right and wrapped his arm around the warm body that was beside him. He now knew why he could not be with anyone else, why he could not want anyone; it was because his heart had already made its choice. Michael smiled in the embrace and his eyes fluttered open, to look at Ashton’s face. He looked so innocent when he was sleeping and Michael just wanted to keep holding him. Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose and giggled when Ashton scrunched it.

“If anyone is interested to know, I’m here,” Luke said loudly, causing them to pull away from the kiss.

Michael quickly pulled the blanket that was on their lower bodies to cover them, causing Luke to roll his eyes since he already saw that they were naked. “How did you get in here?”

“Through the door. Your parents let me in while they were leaving. I’ve been sitting on this chair for almost an hour, wondering when one of you would show some sign of life.”

“Why didn’t you just wait downstairs?”

“Because I never do? Is my presence threatening your little secret?”

“I’ve to go,” Ashton said as he looked at the time.

“You don’t have to leave because of Luke.”

“No, actually I’ve a job interview in an hour,” he said and got up.

The next few minutes, no one said anything and Ashton was getting dressed while Michael was doing the same. “I’ll walk you out. I’m sorry. Luke always likes to barge into my room,” he said as they walked down the stairs.

“Don’t worry. I know Luke and I know how he is. So, I’ll call you.”

“Yeah,” Michael smiled when Ashton leant forward to kiss him before walking away.

“Cute.”

He turned around to see Luke standing at the bottom of the staircase and leaning against the wall. “Are you spying on me?”

“I don’t have to. You’re like an open book to me. So, what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Michael said as he walked past him and back to his room. “You’re back.”

“Yeah but right now, we’re talking about you. Did you do it? How was it?”

“I didn’t have sex with Ashton, if that’s what you’re meaning. Ok, he was here and we just slept. That’s it.”

“Yeah, right. So, let me see. There were clothes scattered on the floor, you were both naked and you kissed him when you woke up. How is that nothing?”

“It’s just… well, how was your trip?”

“I’ll tell you what it is. Ashton is the only guy who spent the night at your house.”

“Wrong. Calum did too, loads of times,” Michael corrected and dropped himself backward on the bed.

“Yeah but on how many occasion was Calum naked? Besides, he doesn’t count because he’s your boyfriend.”

Luke was right but Michael was not going to tell him that. “I don’t see your point.”

“My point is: you like Ashton. Just admit it.”

“Where is that coming from?” Michael asked as he let his mind drift back to the previous night, to Ashton’s lips, his naked body on top of his…

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Of course I am,” he said and realised Luke was lying next to him. “Calum is coming soon.”

“And you’re conflicted. You’re confused about who you like more.”

“Complete and utter rubbish. I had cybersex with Calum last night.”

“I thought you had sex with Ashton.”

“No, didn’t have sex with Ashton. I had cybersex with Calum and Ashton came after. We did do things together but not sex.”

“Oh,” Luke nodded as he pondered about what Michael had just said. “Wait! What did you say?” he stared at Michael with wide eyes. “You had cybersex with Calum?”

Michael chuckled. “Yeah, I know. Totally unpredictable but I did it.”

“Good. Well, I had sex with Calum too, actual sex, where I put my dick in him.”

“Ugh… always so gross. And it’s a cheap joke and not funny.”

“It’s not a joke though. I really did it. I won the bet. I knew you wouldn’t believe me so I took this picture.”

Michael stared at Luke’s phone, not knowing how to react to that. “So, you were right. He’s been cheating on me.”

“No, he promised he had not ever but now he did, with me.”

“Jerk.”

“Who are you calling jerk? Me or Calum?”

“Both. When did it happen?”

“Two nights ago.”

“He only told me he bumped into you at the mall.”

Luke laughed. “That was not a lie. We really bumped into each other, then we got dinner and we ended up in his apartment.” Luke looked at Michael, who looked like he was processing what he had been told. “I’m sorry. You knew it was going to happen. Like I said, no one can resist my charms.”

“It’s not your fault. I asked you to do it because I was certain you were going to fail.”

“Now that all that has been sorted out,” the younger boy smiled. “We had a deal, remember? Will you do it?”

“I don’t know. We’ll see.”

 


	11. Not So Unexpected

Michael fixed his fringe on his forehead and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he kept walking. He still could not stop thinking about what Luke had said; he had sex with Calum, his boyfriend. The thing was, he could not even blame Luke because he was the one who had told Luke to do it in the first place. And then there was Calum and what he had said. He had told Michael that he had ran into Luke and had a little chat but nothing more than that. Did Calum lie to him? Or did he not want to tell him yet? Or did he not tell him because he did not want to hurt him? He did not know what it was but he was sure it was the first option; Calum had plainly lie to him, or at least that was what it looked like for the time being. No matter what it was, he hid the truth from him and in Michael’s eyes, he had the right to know about something that important.

There was also Ashton, who happened to be there. If he was honest with himself, when he had first met Ashton, he did not think he would get along well with him because Ashton was definitely not the kind of person that Michael would hang out with and being him, he did not hang out with a lot of people. With each lesson, he had grown closer to Ashton, which was something that he was not expecting either, and he had to admit he liked spending time with him. With Ashton, he had felt so many things and emotions that he had never felt before and he had to say he loved how he felt when Ashton was around. Then Ashton had showed up at his house a couple of nights ago and despite knowing it was not part of any lessons, he did nothing to prevent things from happening. In fact, he had loved cuddling and sleeping next to Ashton and especially waking up next to him in the morning. He was screwed and he knew it, that was why he was again standing in front of that familiar building, the same one he had been reluctant to go into weeks ago.

“Michael?” Ashton smiled when he opened the door.

“Hi, sorry I’m again here unannounced.”

“I’m used to this by now,” he laughed. “Come on in.”

“I hope I didn’t disturb you,” Michael said as he dropped his bag on the floor and took a seat on the couch.

“Actually I’m glad you came. I was just thinking about you. And the weirdest thing is: when I heard a knock on the door, I knew it was you.” The older boy also took a seat and smiled.

Michael shifted and turned so that he was facing Ashton, who was sitting beside him. “If I may ask, can I know what you were thinking about me?”

“I was thinking about the other night, when I came to your house…”

“About that, I’m really sorry about Luke. He always takes the liberty to walk around in my house, without caring if he’s disturbing anyone. He’s like family, you see.”

“Don’t worry about him. I know how he is. Sometime, he just likes to make people uncomfortable because he knows he’ll easily get away with it.”

“Yeah, I know…” Michael looked down at his hand, thinking about what he should say.

Ashton lifted his eyes and looked a Michael before letting out a sigh. When Michael had first walked through his door, he had thought the boy was a hopeless case but what he did not know was that behind that shyness was a different person, who was fun to hang out with. Unwillingly, he had fallen in love with him and although he was so close to him, he knew he would never be able to have him.

“Why are you so quiet?” Michael asked as he poked him in the rib.

“I’m not quiet, I mean… I was just thinking, since we don’t have any lessons…”

Michael shook his head and cut him off before taking his hand in his. “I thought we could still be friends. And I thought I could come and visit without it having to do anything with the lessons.”

“Of course. Now what?”

“We do what friends do. We have a drink, we hang out, we could watch a movie.”

Ashton hummed; so, to Michael he was only a friend? Of course he was, what kind of question was that? Michael had a boyfriend and that was the reason the boy had come to him to begin with. “Yep, we could do those, although not all friends do that. Some friends do other stuffs.”

It was Michael’s turn to hum because he somehow had the impression that Ashton was taking about Luke. “You’re talking about Luke? What do you guys do when he comes over?”

“What? You don’t want to know,” Ashton pulled his hand away and shifted as an uneasy feeling ran through him.

“Come on, tell me. I wanna know.”

“We talk, catch up and then we kiss and go straight to sex.”

“Ok,” Michael nodded and, moving to straddle the older boy, he pressed their lips together.

“Michael,” Ashton whispered. “I don’t want you to be that friend to me.”

“Shh…”

The younger boy pressed his index to Ashton’s lips and, wrapping his other arm around Ashton’s neck, he settled proper onto Ashton’s thighs to bring their bodies closer together. Looking into Ashton’s eyes, he pressed their foreheads together and moved his hips ever so slightly against the other boy. That action caused Ashton to place his hands on Michael’s waist and to slowly breathe through his parted lips and against Michael’s ones. In turn Michael closed the little gap between them and took Ashton’s bottom lips between his teeth, to suck and tug on it. Since he had other things onto his mind, Michael pulled away and again looked into Ashton’s eyes. He moved to a standing position and, also pulling Ashton to his feet, he walked them to the bedroom. Michael took his denim jacket off, dropped it to the floor and toed his shoes as well as his socks. Next he climbed on the bed and, kneeling in the middle of the mattress, he opened the buttons of his flannel shirt before pushing it to the side and exposing his chest.

Ashton eyed the whole scene quietly; he was confused and yet he was anticipating what the next move would be. As hard as it was to believe, that was the same guy, who used to have his guards up at the mention of something sexual, and now he was undressing on Ashton’s bed. Ashton bit his lip and walked to the bed when Michael motioned for him to come closer with his index as soon as he had settled on his back. He knelt on the bed beside the younger boy and let his eyes roam over his naked chest before bending down and pressing a kiss to it. He trailed his kisses up the middle of Michael’s chest and chin to finally kiss him. Michael pressed his palms flat against the sides of Ashton’s thighs and, trailing them up, he placed it on his ass to pull him on top of him. He did not know how he was doing those because he was not one who would follow his instinct but at that moment, he had finally realised what Ashton had meant by ‘letting go’ because there really was nothing holding him back.

“Let’s do it,” he whispered into Ashton ear.

Ashton pulled back to look at him. Did he really hear Michael say ‘let’s do it’ or had he imagined? “What?”

“Let’s have sex,” he said as he pressed a kiss to the tip of Ashton’s nose.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” He slipped a hand into Ashton’s loose pants and rubbed his hand along his penis before whispering, “yes, I’m sure. I want all of you.”

Ashton closed his eyes and suppressed a moan. “Ok.”

Michael pulled his hand away and removed Ashton’s tank top before letting his hand caress his stomach. Next his pants and boxers followed the same fate. Once he was naked, it was Ashton’s turn to undress the younger boy. Pulling the lube from the drawer, he settled on Michael’s hips as he looked down at the other boy. Ashton leant forward, connected his lips to the side of Michael’s neck and slipped a hand between their bodies. He enclosed his fingers around Michael almost hard penis and moved it along the length. He squeezed it and smiled when Michael let out a gasp before repeating the action again; the sound of Michael gasping in his ear was a delight and he wanted to hear it over and over. Taking things to the next level, he also took his dick into the same hand and pressed both their penises together as he jerked them off. Michael wrapped one hand around Ashton’s waist and cupped his face with his other before again kissing him. He had received a hand job from Ashton before but it was nothing like that.

Everything he was feeling was intensified and his dick rubbing against Ashton’s had to be the best thing he had experienced yet; he had to admit, he liked it better that way. However, that did not last long because Ashton pulled his hand away and Michael whined. The older boy trailed his hand behind his own balls and pushed his index into his hole, hissing at the feel; he had not had sex in a while and he knew he would have to stretch before going further. He bit on Michael’s shoulder as he pushed his finger deeper and moved it in and out before adding another one. It did not take long for Michael to catch up on what was happening and the hand that he had on Ashton’s waist trailed down to the older boy’s ass before placing it on the hand that was moving in and out of him. Slowly, he pulled Ashton’s fingers away and replaced them with his own. Michael mimicked Ashton and soon enough his fingers were moving and stretching him, gently at first and then faster.

Ashton repositioned himself in a sitting position and Michael pulled his hand away, allowing Ashton to take the lead. The older boy held Michael dick and, looking into Michael’s eyes, he guided it to his entrance. Gradually, he seated himself onto it and took more of it in him, until his butt was touching Michael’s hips. He looked at Michael’s face and stayed still for a few seconds, letting Michael adjust to the feeling before lightly rocking his hips back and forth. Michael parted his lips and breathed heavily; as tiny as Ashton’s movements were, they were sending those waves of heat through his entire body. Ashton was so tight around him and he was feeling something entirely new but he knew that was not all because Ashton was barely moving. The moment Ashton hoisted himself up to again bury Michael deep in him, Michael shut his eyes and fisted the sheets. Ashton placed his hands flat on Michael’s stomach and rode him faster as he wrapped his fingers around his penis to pump it at the same pace; judging by the look on the other boy’s face, he knew he was not going to last much longer and he wanted to cum too.

When Michael thrust upward, Ashton stilled his movement and dropped himself forward to let Michael take over. He buried his face in the crook of Michael’s neck and placed small kisses to his skin as Michael continuously thrust upward. Letting out a groan, Michael curled his toes as he emptied himself in Ashton. He stilled his movement and closed his eyes to catch his breath while Ashton’s hand kept moving between them. A few grunts escaped his mouth, followed by a loud moan and he came too. He then got off Michael’s lap and dropped himself beside him. They both stayed silent and Ashton pulled Michael closer to him before wrapping his arm around him.

**Next morning…**

“Please don’t go,” Ashton opened his eyes when the mattress shifted and he held Michael’s hand.

Michael laughed. “At some point, I have to go.”

“You can go later,” Ashton said in a croaky voice. “Come back here.”

Smiling, Michael settled back next to Ashton and pecked his lips a few times. “You’re just being childish.”

“You were so warm. Now I feel cold. Can’t you stay?”

“I’ll come back tomorrow and I’ll call you later.”

“Stay for a little while longer.”

“Ok, five more minutes.” Michael smiled as Ashton again closed his eyes. Biting his lower lip, he pressed his hand to Ashton’s chest and trailed it lower under the cover.

**Two hours later…**

Michael smiled as he closed his bedroom door and let his mind drift to his night and morning with Ashton. All that were on his mind on the ride back home were: Ashton’s lips against his, Ashton’s hands on his body and his penis…

“You look happy.”

Michael’s eyes shot open at the sound of… Calum’s voice? “Calum?”

“Hey beautiful, surprise,” the brunette smiled widely.

“Calum, you’re back. You’re really back. I mean…” Michael ran and jumped on him, causing him to stumble backward but luckily they were close to the bed and they fell on it.

“I know I wasn’t supposed to be here before another few days but after our last video chat, I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to see you.”

“I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you. Why didn’t you call to let me know?”

“I wanted to surprise you. Where were you anyway? I was here since last night.”

Michael instantly felt guilty; Calum was there waiting for him and he was with Ashton. “I was… with Luke. If I had known you’d be here, I wouldn’t have gone.”

“It’s ok, you’re here now. I love you,” he said as he looked into Michael’s eyes.

Michael looked back into his eyes and he could not forget the fact that Calum had lied to him but he decided to brush it off for the time being. “Me too,” he said and pressed his lips to Calum.

Calum flipped them over and settled between Michael’s legs before deepening the kiss. Instinctively, Michael wrapped his legs around Calum’s hips and locked his arms around his neck as he vigorously kissed back. He opened his eyes for a split second and saw Ashton kissing him and he again closed them and kissed back. Ashton’s lips against his, it was something he could never get enough of. The other boy’s hips started to move against his and he thrust his hips upward to match it. They pulled away to catch their breaths but their hips kept moving.

“I love you, Ash,” he said in a barely audible whisper and immediately opened his eyes after doing so. It was Calum kissing him, not Ashton, then why did he say that? Did he… “Shit.”

“What happened?” Calum frowned as he looked at Michael’s face.

“Can we go a bit slower?”

 


	12. Twist

“Luke? What are you doing here?” Ashton frowned when he spotted the boy standing in the doorway. “How did you get in?”

“I’ve a key. Remember you gave it to me? Anyways, I wasn’t going to use it but I knocked a couple of times and I figured I’d let myself in,” Luke stated as he stepped on the balcony as well.

“I didn’t hear you.”

“That’s because you were probably too lost somewhere. Were you thinking about me?” Luke smirked.

Ashton took another drag of his cigarette and closed his eyes as he exhaled. Michael had said he would call later that day and that was three days ago. There was still no call or sign of Michael; it was like the other boy had completely disappeared. Yes, he knew Michael had a boyfriend and he should not be expecting anything from him but still, he could not help it. The past months had been exceptionally unusual but the attachment he had grown with Michael was unlike anything he had ever felt before. He also knew that once Michael’s boyfriend was back, things would never be the same between him and Michael; he would never be able to hold Michael close again, he would never be able to hug him and inhale the sweet scent of his perfume again, he would never be able to kiss him again and he would never be able to touch him again. Those were already too much to digest and now, Michael seemed to have pushed him away completely.

“Hey,” Luke shook his shoulder. “Where are you lost?”

Ashton cleared his throat. “Nowhere… I was thinking about that job interview I went to the other day.”

“What about it?”

“Nothing… they said they’d call and let me know but they haven’t yet.”

“I’m sure they will. Now, will you tell me the real reason why you look so disheartened?”

“It’s… hmm,” the older boy paused as he tried to come up with something. “I’m not feeling too well. What about you? How have you been?”

“Awesome but I missed you.”

“Fuck off, you don’t miss me, ever. Why don’t you tell me why you’re really here?”

“Well, I was feeling lonely and I thought we could…” he moved closer to Ashton and ran his index up and down the other boy’s arm.

“Luke,” Ashton held his hand and halted it. “Don’t… I’m really not fine.”

“But I can make you feel better.” He wrapped his other arm around Ashton’s waist and pressed himself to the older boy’s side before whispering in his ear, “so much better.”

“I’m seriously not up for this.”

Pulling away, Luke chuckled and shook his head. “That was what it took? Fuck, you did it! I mean, I never doubted that you could but Michael, he’s something else. I didn’t think he would ever come out of that shell.”

“What are you talking about?” Ashton frowned.

“You and Michael having sex, duh.”

“He told you?”

Nodding, Luke walked back inside to the living room and dropped himself on the couch.

Ashton crushed the cigarette bud in the ashtray that was on the little table in the corner and quickly followed the other boy. “Luke, wait. He told you?”

“Of course he did. He’s my best friend and he never keeps anything from me,” he smiled brightly as he lied. “You know, I’m really proud of you for getting him out of that bubble he lives in. Yeah, yeah, he’s my best friend and I shouldn’t be saying that about him,” he said when Ashton raised an eyebrow at him. “Once you get to know Michael, he really fun to hang out with but the problem is: he’s not one for adventure and taking risks. The thrills of living on the edge, following your instinct, it’s not Michael. He only likes the same old routine, knowing what he’s gonna do today or tomorrow.”

“Some people call that being organized, you know?”

“That’s not the point. So, how was it?”

The older boy stared at him. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, tell me all about it.”

“It was good. For his first time, he did great. Don’t look at me like this. I know you must be thinking he was lame but no, he wasn’t. Michael knows what he’s doing when he’s doing it. Trust me, he’s not the same guy you sent to me a couple of months ago.”

Luke hummed and slyly kept his eyes on Ashton. “I wonder if he had sex with Calum last night.”

“Calum?”

“You didn’t know? He’s back.”

“When?”

“Three days ago.”

“Oh!” the older said quietly as he stared blankly at his hands. Now it all made sense, why Michael had not called or met him. He was too busy with his boyfriend to think about him. Why wouldn’t he? Ashton was nothing and Calum was everything. Plus, he had impatiently been waiting for Calum to come back. And the whole point of meeting Ashton and learning the lessons was to impress his boyfriend. So, the answer was yes, they were probably having tons of sex.

“Where are you lost?” he asked as he poked Ashton with his index.

“Nowhere…”

“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” Luke grinned.

“What?” Ashton laughed. “I mean, yeah I was. I was thinking about that time when I went to his house.”

“Yeah, he told me all about it, the first time you guys has sex and how he thought he was too tight for you.”

“He never told you anything. You fucking liar.” Ashton threw a pillow at him and crossed his arms over his chest; Luke had been making a fool of him and like an idiot, he had been telling him everything.

“No, he did tell me stuffs.”

“But not the fact that we had sex.”

“Ok, he may have omitted that detail but now I know all because you told me. Why are we even wasting time talking about that? We should be having sex instead.”

“I don’t want to have sex with you today, Luke.”

“But I’m so horny. My body aches for you.” Luke trailed his fingers down the older boy’s chest and stopped at the elastic of his sweatpants. “Fuck me right now.”

“You’re trying so hard that it’s totally giving you away. What do you want really?”

“Say it. I want you to say it.”

“What do you want me to say?” Ashton laughed. “That I want to have sex with you?”

“No, that’s not what I want to hear because I know you don’t want to.”

“Then, what do you want me to say?”

“That you’re in love with Michael and he’s all you can think about lately.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Really? Is it?”

“Did you fall on your head? Go home, Luke. Sleep a little. Get some rest and maybe you’ll feel better.”

“You know, people may think I’m carefree and I don’t think about anyone and that I’m dumb and stupid but trust me, I’m very observant. I’ve known you for a very long time and even though we’ve spent most of that time having sex, that doesn’t mean I don’t know you. You may try to hide it from me but it’s very obvious that you’re in love with Michael.”

“Even if you were right, it doesn’t matter. Michael has a boyfriend and he’s happy with him. I know he loves Calum; he always tells me about it.”

“Michael is my best friend and knowing him, even if he’s in love with you, he won’t say it.”

“But he’s not. There’s no point in thinking about that.”

“How did it happen? How did you end up falling for him?”

Ashton smiled. “When it started, he was so insecure and every time I’d try something, he’d freak out; so, I had to be gentle and go slow. My patience did pay off because he was learning things even though at times he would hesitate. Sometimes he was so vulnerable and other times he looked so confident and knew exactly what he was doing. There was always something about him, I don’t know what it is… but it was drawing me to him. I didn’t realise I was falling for him, until it had happened. It was too late and there’s nothing I can do to change things. I also know it’s pointless to try anything because we don’t have a chance together, we never did.”

“I see…” Luke nodded. “Hey you know what? I have a better idea. What are you doing this Sunday?”

“Sleep and sleep more, I guess.”

“Nope. You’re coming with me to that awesome birthday party.”

“Birthday party? Whose?”

“Just a friend of mine.”

“What am I going to do there? I probably won’t know anyone.”

“How about you stand next to me and make me look good?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Great. I’ll pick you up on Sunday, lover boy. I gotta run.” He grabbed his bag and jacket before turning to Ashton again. “Try not to miss me too much while I’m gone.”

“I’ll try,” Ashton laughed and sighed when the door closed. Birthday party? What was he going to do there?

**Two nights later…**

Luke pulled another two beers from the fridge and walked back to the living room. Earlier that day, Calum had called him and told him he wanted to talk to him and being the nice guy that he was, Luke had invited him over. “So, you don’t want me to tell Michael anything about what happened at campus?”

“He’ll be hurt if he knows and I don’t want that. I’d really appreciate if we keep this between us.”

“Sure,” Luke nodded; although it was too late for that since he had already told Michael everything.

“What about you? No girlfriend or boyfriend? Because last time I was here you were single.”

“I’m still single. I still got plenty of time before I want to commit.”

“What if in the process you miss the right person?”

“Not a chance. I’d know if I meet him.”

“You’re always so sure about everything. How’s that?”

“Aren’t you? Sure about things?” he eyed Calum as he took a sip of his beer.

“I guess I am. Shit…” Calum muttered as he accidentally spilled his drink on himself while trying to check the time on his watch.

“You’re such a disaster. Three beers and you’re already acting clumsy. I’ll get you a towel.”

“Fuck!” he shook his head and looked at the wet patch in the front of his tee. He pulled it over his head and walked in the direction that Luke went. “Do you mind if I use your bathroom?”

“Wha…” Luke stopped mid-sentence when he bumped into Calum and he grabbed the other boy’s arms to steady himself. “Towel,” he mumbled as he looked into Calum’s eyes.

Without breaking the eye contact, the brunette took hold of Luke’s hand and made him wipe his chest. Slowly the distance between them disappeared and both boys stepped closer to the other. Their lips met and Luke pressed a hand to Calum’s bare chest and placed the other at the back of his head to steady himself as he almost stumbled backward. It was only a matter of seconds before Calum had pressed Luke against the wall and had his knee between Luke’s legs while rubbing his thigh against the younger boy’s penis. Luke’s body was quickly reacting to the things that Calum was doing to him but he still needed more. He trailed his hand lower to Calum’s stomach and expertly undid his jeans before slipping it inside and stroking his dick. Then he pulled his hand out, pushed Calum away and tugged on his boxers to drag him to the bedroom. At the same time, Calum toed his shoes and allowed himself to be guided without any complains. At that moment, all logical thoughts were casted out of his head and all he wanted was to get Luke out of his clothes and press their bodies together as he fucked him hard.

Calum moaned when Luke pushed him onto his back on the mattress and pulled his jeans and boxers down his legs in one swift motion. The blonde quickly got rid of his clothes and got on his knees between Calum’s legs. He pressed a few kisses up his thighs, one at a time before stopping close to his penis. However, he did not take it into his mouth because he had crawled up the other boy’s body and claimed his lips again. Without pulling away, Calum rolled them over so that he was top and, pushing Luke’s legs further apart, he settled between them. Luke closed his eyes and arched his back when, without warning, Calum had pushed a finger in him. He buried his fingers into the other boy’s hair when Calum’s lips had moved from his lips to his neck while teasing his penis with his other hand. Lifting his legs, he locked them around the older boy’s hips as Calum moved his fingers in and out at a quite rapid pace.

** One hour and a half later… **

Luke opened his eyes and pulled his hand away when he realised where it was, on Calum’s ass. He looked at their naked bodies and sighed before pulling the blanket to cover Calum. He then moved to sit on the edge of the bed as his eyes lingered on Calum’s bare back. Finally, he got up and walked to the window before dialling Michael’s number; he may have told Calum he would not tell Michael anything but he knew he could not do it.

“Why aren’t you sleeping? It’s midnight,” Michael groaned into the speaker.

“I know but I had to tell you.”

“Can’t it wait until morning?”

“No, I had sex with Calum.”

“I know. You told me that already. I hope you didn’t wake me up to remind me.”

“No, I mean, I had sex with Calum earlier and he’s sleeping in my bed.”

“You mean right now?” Michael asked; suddenly, he sounded more awake.

“Yes and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. He said he wanted to talk and I told him to come over. We had a few beers and things just happened.”

“Damn it Luke!”

“Please don’t be mad at me. I’ll kick him out if you want me to.”

“No, let him sleep.”

“You’re weird kind of person, Michael. I just told you that I had sex with your boyfriend and instead of being mad at me and at him, you want me to let him sleep? Are you even human?”

“We’ll talk in the morning.”

“I love you. You’re the best.”

“Goodnight.” Michael again dropped himself on the mattress and sighed. What was happening to him? Why was Calum doing that to him? He was probably the one to be blamed for it since he was the one who had asked Luke to try and seduce Calum. His life was a mess; the one he was supposed to be in love with was sleeping around with his best friend and the one he was only supposed to learn things from was always on his mind lately. What was he supposed to do?

 


	13. Final Decision

“What?” Luke asked when Ashton opened the door.

“What?” the older boy frowned at him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Why aren’t you dressed?”

Ashton looked down at himself and then back at Luke. “In case you didn’t notice, I am wearing clothes.”

“Yes but you’re not ready.”

Sighing, he walked inside. “I told you, I don’t wanna go. I don’t even know whose party we’re going to. I’m going to look like a complete idiot there.”

“Of course not. You know me and I know you and we’re gonna have lots of fun, trust me. Come on, follow me.”

“Where are you going?” Ashton asked as he reluctantly followed Luke to his room.

“To find you something nice to wear, of course. Ashton, I know you don’t want to go but you have to trust me on this one.”

“Why do I feel like you’re setting me up or something?”

“Who? Me? Of course not,” he laughed as he scanned Ashton’s closet.

“Luke?” the older boy raised an eyebrow.

“Hmm… this will do,” he said and pulled a black button-up shirt.

**Forty-two minutes later…**

“Wait! This is…” he turned to look at Luke with big eyes. “No way.”

“Too late. I already rang the bell.”

“I’ll get the door,” Michael said to no one as he got down the last few steps. “Luke,” he smiled widely when he spotted the other boy. “Glad you could make it. I thought I was going to go crazy, spending the day around my cousins. Little devils they are.” Then he spotted Ashton, who was standing behind Luke. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Ashton waved with a tiny smile.

“Invite us inside already,” Luke shook his head when the other two kept staring at each other and walked inside. “Where are your grandparents? I wanna wish them.”

“So, it’s your grandparent’s birthday?” Ashton asked as he followed Michael inside.

“No,” Michael laughed. “It’s actually their 50th anniversary.”

“Wow…”

“Hi Karen,” Luke grinned. “This is Ashton. Remember I told you about him.”

Ashton turned to look at him with confusion; what exactly did Luke tell Michael’s mom about?

“Yes, I remember. Yours and Michael’s new friend. Hello,” Karen smiled.

“Hi,” he smiled back.

“You two make yourselves at home, I’m going to set the table outside.”

“I will,” Luke smiled. “You know I always do.”

Ashton looked around and smiled when he saw Michael but that smile was quickly replaced by a scrunch of the nose when a brunette kissed him. He instantly assumed that was Calum and could not help but look away.

“Hey Ashton? I want you to meet Calum,” Michael bit on his lip nervously.

“Oh hi, it’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Calum frowned; how did that guy know a lot about him when he did not even know his existence? “Really?”

“Yeah, Michael always talks about you.”

“How is it you guys know each other? I mean, I’ve been dating Michael for so long and he never mentioned you.”

“We met a few months ago. Luke introduced us, actually.”

“Luke?”

“Yes, present. I hear my name,” Luke grinned sheepishly as he joined them.

“So, this is your boyfriend?” Calum questioned.

“Who? Ashton? No,” Luke laughed. “But I wish. I mean, look at him,” he said as he glanced at Michael while rubbing his hand up and down Ashton’s arm.

“How about we get a drink?” Michael said out loud and they joined the others.

A bunch of Michael’s cousins, Luke, Calum, Ashton and Michael were outside chatting, goofing around and having a drink and every now and then Michael and Ashton would glimpse at each other. Michael wondered why Luke had brought Ashton there when he knew very well that Calum would be there as well and that would put him in an awkward situation. With the way Luke had been questioning him the other day, he knew Luke knew he liked Ashton, then why would he do that to him? Although Calum was sitting beside him and had his arm around his shoulder, he could not keep his attention on him; instead, he was looking at Ashton, who was opposite him and was occasionally licking his lips, bouncing his foot continuously and twirling his fingers around each other nervously. Then, something that Michael was not expecting happened; Calum was trailing his hand down his back and Goosebumps were erecting on his skin for all the wrong reasons. Why? Because he did not want Calum’s hand to be there.

“I… I’m gonna get some more drinks,” he said and quickly got to his feet.

Ashton looked at the younger boy as he got up; it was the first time he was seeing Michael since the boy had come to his house the other day and they had sex. He had to admit, Michael was looking cuter than ever and it was then that he realised that Michael had gotten a haircut. He did not know if he was grateful to Luke for taking him there or not because Calum was back and he knew he had to get over Michael but he simply could not and his heart was so happy to see Michael again.

“Luke, I need to go to the bathroom,” he whispered to the boy, who was sitting next to him.

“Hey Michael,” Luke called out loudly. “Ashton needs to pee. Can you show him to the bathroom on your way to the kitchen? Thanks sweetie.”

Ashton scratched the back of his head as everybody turned to look at him and took a deep breath before getting up and following Michael inside. He nodded when Michael showed him the way and he went in. Meanwhile, Michael was humming to the loud music playing on the stereo as he pulled some more beers out of the fridge. He turned around when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he smiled when he realised it was Ashton. Instinctively, he cupped Ashton’s face, stepped closer to him and pressed their lips together. The next second, Ashton wrapped his arm around Michael’s waist and pulled him closer.

“Wait… not in here,” Michael mumbled against his lips.

“Everybody else is busy outside,” Ashton whispered back before kissing him again.

He lifted Michael off his feet and placed him on top of the counter before settling between his knees. Pressing his mouth to Michael’s chin, he left a series of kisses there and then again moved to his lips. They quickly pulled away when someone cleared their throat behind them.

“Aunt Nora…” Michael stuttered.

“I didn’t see anything. I’m just getting some more sauce,” she smiled at them.

Michael could feel his cheek turning red as his aunt kept staring at him and, grabbing Ashton’s hand, he walked them to his bedroom.

**Back outside…**

Luke was starting to get bored with the conversations and the loud vintage music was not his kind of things either; he needed a smoke to clear his mind. Walking to the big old tree, he leant against it and lit his cigarette.

“Mind if I join you?” Calum pulled the cigarette out of Luke’s fingers and took a drag. “Bored?”

“This is not really my scene,” Luke motioned to the whole setting and the people around. “But the Cliffords are like family to me and I couldn’t not come. What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know. I thought you might like some company.”

Luke took the cigarette back and inhaled deeply. “Company? It depends.”

Smirking, Calum leant forward and connected their lips. Luke’s eyes widened at the sudden action and he dropped the cigarette to the floor and crushed it with his foot before grabbing Calum by the collar and pressing him against the tree, away from prying eyes. He pressed their lips firmer together and wrapped his arms around Calum’s waist while the other boy enclosed his arms around his neck. The temperature between them was quickly rising and Luke thrust his hips against Calum’s eagerly.

“Fuck!” Calum panted and Luke again kissed him but he pulled away. “I… I’m going to see what Michael is up to.” Leaving Luke by the tree, Calum made his way to the kitchen but to his dismay, he only found Michael’s aunt Nora there and no sign of Michael. “Have you seen Michael anywhere?”

“I think I might have seen him going upstairs a few minutes earlier.”

Calum nodded and walked to Michael’s room, feeling a sudden rush of anger in him. There on the bed was Michael, with Ashton on top of him, making out; Michael was shirtless and Ashton had the buttons of his shirt opened. “What the fuck?”

At the sound of Calum’s voice, Ashton quickly moved away and tied his shirt.

“Is this what has been happening behind my back? You are fucking him, aren’t you?”

“Cal, it’s not what you think,” Michael gulped guiltily. “I can explain.”

“What’s there to explain? You’ve never let me touch you like this. You’ve always acted so innocent when in fact, you’re a slut.”

“You can’t talk to him like this,” Ashton said angrily.

“You stay out of him,” Calum shouted as he pointed a finger at him.

“Ash, this is between me and Calum. Let me handle it, please. Calum, it’s not what you think…”

“Really? Not what I think? You know what I think? It’s over. I’m done.”

“Calum, wait…” Michael grabbed his shirt from the floor, pulled it on and ran after the brunette, without sparing another glance at Ashton.

“What’s going on?” Luke grabbed Michael’s arm when he passed by him. “I just saw Calum rushing out as well.”

“You have your keys?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go.”

“But what’s happening?”

“I’ll explain on the way.”

**A few minutes later…**

“Wait for me here,” Michael said as he walked to the door. He greeted Calum’s mom and walked to Calum’s room. “Cal?”

“What do you want? Why are you here? Go back to your lover.”

“Please, give me a chance to explain.”

“There’s nothing left to explain. How could you do this? Were you fucking him while I was away?”

“What? No. It’s not like that.”

“Didn’t you stop and think about me once? Why? Why Michael? Why? You never let me kiss you like that. You never let me do anything. You two were practically fucking in broad daylight while there’s your grandparents’ anniversary party going on.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Luke told me everything. You slept with him and you lied to me when I asked you.”

“Don’t try to turn this on me.”

“I’m not. You cheated on me twice and I still did not say anything. You want to know how I met Ashton? I’ll tell you. I met him because of you.”

“What the fuck? I don’t even know him.”

“You remember how eager you were to come back so we can move ahead with our relationship? Luke didn’t want me to look like a complete idiot, so he introduced me to Ashton. I went to him to learn things so that I could please you.”

“So you let a complete stranger touch you, just so you could please me? You don’t make sense. You could’ve just asked me. I would never have made fun of you. You know how much I love you, right?”

“I thought you did but then I realised that if you really did, you wouldn’t have been sneaking around with Luke.”

“I…”

“We did spend some great time together but I don’t think we’re meant to be. I was just supposed to be learning from Ashton but I didn’t realise when I fell for him. And I believe you have a thing for Luke.”

“What? That’s ridiculous.”

“I could smell your perfume on him and I can smell his on you. I don’t blame you, Luke does have a captivating personality. I just wish that in the end, we can still be friends. That’s all I have to say.” Michael turned around and made his way outside. “Give me the keys,” he asked Luke, who was leaning against the car.

“You’re driving?”

“Yes and you’re staying. I think you have things to say to each other.”

**Back at Ashton’s house…**

Ashton slouched further down on the couch and sighed; when Michael had left in such a rush, he had made it clear what his decision was. What had made him think that Michael was ever going to choose him? He was never in the picture; his only purpose in Michael’s life was to help Michael and Calum’s relationship prosper. Why did he think he ever had a chance? Calum was the one that Michael loved and that was it. If he had happened to fall in love with Michael, it was entirely his fault and his misfortune. He had never believed in love before and when he did, it was with someone he could never have. A knock on the door brought him out of his thought but he groaned, put a pillow on his face and ignored it. Another knock was heard and unwillingly he dragged his feet to the door.

“I guess I’m never getting enough of coming here,” Michael smiled.

Ashton opened his mouth but nothing came out of it; he only stood there and stared at the other boy. He could not believe that after everything that had happened earlier, Michael was standing in front of his door. Seeing as Ashton was not saying anything, Michael closed the gap between them and kissed him.

“I love you, Ashton. I would officially like to start something with you, that is if you will have me.”

“Are you kidding? If you’re walking into my house today, I’m never letting you go,” Ashton smiled and again kissed him when the younger boy walked inside.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys have enjoyed this story.  
> Thank you for sticking around for so long, even if I took time to update xoxo

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment to let me know what you think and also, it helps me know if I'm going in the right direction and what you expect next.


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